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Varun's praise of Rahul’s work causes a flutter

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi caused a bit of flutter within his party by appearing to praise his cousin and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi during remarks made while campaigning in his constituency, Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The remarks seemed to praise Rahul for the work he has done for helping small-scale industries in his own constituency of Amethi through self-help groups. He has since gone on micro-blogging site Twitter to make it clear that he had not endorsed Rahul or his party in any way.

The cousins do not take on each other in campaign speeches, though Varun’s mother Maneka Gandhi has hit out at Rahul’s mother and Congress President Sonia Gandhi in recent days. Sonia Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi are daughters-in-law of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

As the media went to town with Varun’s remarks, Rahul, who was accompanying Sonia Gandhi on a visit to her constituency Rae Bareli, where she filed her nomination for the elections, gracefully accepted his cousin’s praise.

He said he and his colleagues in Amethi had implemented a strategic plan to help connect farmers of the region to the world. He said the plan also included emphasis on agriculture, empowerment of women and education. He said efforts were being made to make Amethi an education hub. “So what Varun is saying is right. I am very happy that other people are appreciating my work in Amethi,” Rahul said. Rahul is seeking a third consecutive term from Amethi in the coming elections.

An embarrassed BJP declined comment on Varun’s remarks, with spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad saying that he had not heard them. At the same time, he said that the Congress was responsible for most of the ills facing India and that made Rahul equally culpable.

“My comment, last night, in a meeting with teachers and NGOs, in response to being asked whether I knew about initiatives in Amethi, was that although I had not seen the work done via self help groups in Amethi, I had heard it was fairly decent, and that I would stress on empowering people towards being self-reliant,” Varun said on Twitter.

“It should NOT be seen as an endorsement of any political party or candidate,” he added, in a bid to put a lid on the entire episode.

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