LUCKNOW: Seeking a ninth term in the Lok Sabha and second from Sultanpur, Maneka Gandhi, popular as ‘Maa Maneka’ among her supporters, had been fighting a lone battle so far in the Lok Sabha constituency.
However, at the fag end of her campaign in Sultanpur, which will go to the polls in the sixth phase, UP CM Yogi Adityanath addressed a poll rally in the constituency seeking support for her. Now, Maneka's son Varun Gandhi is also set to arrive to seek votes for her.
After remaining in denial mode initially, the outgoing MP from Pilibhit has decided to campaign for his mother in Sultanpur by addressing around a dozen meetings across five assembly segments of Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency on Thursday.
As per the BJP media in-charge Vijay Singh Raghuvanshi, Varun, who represented Sultanpur in the Lok Sabha during 2014-2019, will also interact with senior party leaders and cadre at the party office.
Sources said that Varun has also created a slogan for his mother: ‘Sabse Nata, Sabse Pyar, Maa Maneka Phir Ek Baar.’
Varun was shifted to Pilibhit while his mother Maneka opted for Sultanpur and won the seat by a margin of 14,000 votes in 2019.
In this election, Varun was denied a party ticket and replaced by Jitin Prasada in Pilibhit. Since then, the outgoing BJP MP was not seen in any party forum. He even skipped PM Modi’s rally in Pilibhit. Varun had earlier been vocal against various policies of the Modi and Yogi governments.
A few days ago, Maneka had denied that Varun would campaign for her saying she had told him that things were under her control and if needed, she would call him.
This time, her goal has been to increase her margin and she had been highlighting her work, development of the constituency and strong leadership of PM Modi while seeking people’s support. She has already addressed over 700 meetings across Sultanpur during the last one month.
Maneka finds herself locked in a tough battle this time with rival Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Rambhual Nishad and the BSP’s Uday Raj Verma.
