VARUN SKIPS UP BJP MPS’ MEET WITH SHAH

ALLAHABAD: A war of words has erupted in the BJP over projecting Varun Gandhi as the party’s face in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh after he skipped a meeting called by party chief Amit Shah of MPs from the state.

Gandhi, who was here to attend the BJP’s national executive, was conspicuous by his absence at the meeting of Lok Sabha MPs, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others.

When asked about it, party’s state unit president Keshav Prasad Maurya, who is himself an MP from Phulpur, said, “We have more than 70 MPs in the state and out of them at least 13 could not take part. This was not due to any resentment on their part but because of their personal reasons.”

He said the meeting went off peacefully, without any tension and was attended by Modi and also a number of Union ministers.

A second-term MP, Gandhi’s absence at the meeting had given rise to speculation that he was miffed at the reluctance of the party’s central leadership to grant him a prominent role in the UP assembly polls due in less than a year.

In 2013, the then party president had appointed Gandhi as one of the national general secretaries, making him the youngest person to hold the post. However, when Shah took over, Gandhi was stripped off the post.

Meanwhile, firebrand MP from Bihar Shatrughan Sinha, who had reportedly voiced his support for Gandhi at the national executive, on Tuesday defended his stand when a number of party colleagues criticised him.