Lok Sabha Elections 2024: BJP MP Varun Gandhi snubs Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's offer, opts out of Pilibhit poll race
Varun Gandhi has opted out of the Lok Sabha election 2024 from Pilibhit, according to his close associates. Varun was dropped by the BJP and replaced with former Congress leader Jitin Prasada to contest from Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit seat in the party’s fifth list of candidates released on March 25. Pilibhit, the seat in Uttar Pradesh that Varun won twice, goes to polls in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 19.
The filing of nominations by candidates for the seat closed on March 27. A report on News18 quoted Varun’s aides as saying that they haven’t received any instructions from the BJP leader to file nominations. This ends speculation that Varun would contest the elections as an independent candidate or on any other party’s ticket.
Amid the speculation, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had welcomed Varun to join the party, a day after Varun was dropped by the BJP. Also Read: Lok Sabha polls 2024: From PM Modi to Amit Shah, BJP releases star campaigners list Earlier too, there were reports that Varun might join the Congress. In fact, in November last year, Varun and his cousin and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had met at the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand, setting tongues wagging about Varun joining the Congress.
In January 2023, Rahul had busted any such speculation. “Varun Gandhi at some point accepted and imbibed the ideology of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), which he can never accept," Rahul, the Wayanad MP, had told reporters. Sources said Varun is likely to campaign for his mother Maneka Gandhi who is contesting from the Sultanpur seat.
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