UP Lok Sabha Elections: Maneka, Varun not in fray after three decades, BJP goes full steam with campaigning in Pilibhit
Varun Gandhi will not be in the fray from the Pilibhit constituency for which the BJP is going full throttle with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to address a mega election rally here on Tuesday. The party has denied a ticket to sitting MP Varun Gandhi from the constituency that has been represented either by him or his mother since 1996. Instead, it has fielded Uttar Pradesh Minister Jitin Prasada from the seat.
Pilibhit goes to polls on April 19 in the first of the seven-phase Parliamentary elections.
Prasada, who won the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls from Shahjahanpur and Dharura constituencies, respectively, on Congress ticket, crossed over to the BJP in 2021. So far, he is the only Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister to be fielded in this Lok Sabha polls.
However, the member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council is facing an uphill task of making a political ground for himself in Pilibhit where locals express a deep connection with Varun Gandhi.
«Jitin Prasada has very little influence in Pilibhit. As of now, he is being seen as an outsider fielded up by the BJP for the polls here,» said Sushil Kumar Gangwar, a retired college principal.
Maneka Gandhi won the seat on a Janata Dal ticket in 1989, lost in 1991 and won again in 1996. She won from the constituency again in 1998 and 1999 as an Independent candidate. She won the seat in 2004 and 2014 as a BJP candidate. Varun Gandhi won the seat in 2009 and 2019 as a BJP candidate.
She is seeking reelection from Sultanpur which she won as BJP candidate in 2019.
