LS elections: Congress invites Varun Gandhi to join the party post-BJP snub

In its fifth list of candidates released on Monday, the BJP replaced the sitting Pilibhit MP with ex-Congress MP Jitin Prasad for the upcoming elections

The Congress invited Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi to the Congress camp a day after the Pilibhit MP was replaced with ex-Congress MP Jitin Prasada for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

On Gandhi's omission from a Lok Sabha ticket from the BJP, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that Varun Gandhi didn't get a ticket due to his relations with the Gandhi family. 

"He should come here. We would be happy. He is an educated man. He has a clean image. BJP denied him a ticket because he is related to the Gandhi family. I think he should come (to Congress)," Chowdhury said during a press conference in Murshidabad, West Bengal.

Varun Gandhi may not contest elections at all: Reports

According to media reports, Gandhi feels "cheated" and may not contest the upcoming polls after the BJP's snub. However, he has not made an official statement about his election strategy.

Prasada, who quit the Congress and joined the BJP in 2021, will file his election nomination papers tomorrow, with March 27 being the deadline.

Jitin Prasada visits Pilibhit

Prasada visited Pilibhit for the first time on Monday after being declared the BJP candidate in the Uttar Pradesh constituency. He met with the Sikh community, assuring them of his unwavering support "in all circumstances".

Earlier on Monday, the BJP released its fifth list of candidates and announced candidates for 111 Lok Sabha seats. There were a lot of surprises in the list. The saffron party has fielded actor Kangana Ranaut and Arun Govil from Mandi and Meerut seats, respectively, for the upcoming general election.

However, in a surprising move, the BJP dropped Varun Gandhi and instead gave the ticket to Jitin Prasada, who jumped ship from Congress to BJP in 2021. But the ruling party did keep Maneka Gandhi for the Sultanpur constituency. 

Why was Varun Gandhi dropped?

According to political commentators, Varun Gandhi purportedly lost favour within the BJP ranks due to his repeated criticisms of the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh.

In 2023, he criticised the UP government following the suspension of Amethi's Sanjay Gandhi Hospital's licence after the death of a patient.

In 2022, Gandhi took a swipe at the Uttar Pradesh government for neither postponing the Preliminary Eligibility Test (PET) nor making "adequate transport arrangements" for students to reach exam centres in flood-affected areas of the state. "Ground realities are perhaps not visible from aerial surveys," he had tweeted on X (formerly Twitter) in a subtle dig at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who had surveyed the flood-hit areas from his helicopter.

In 2021, following his tweets on the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, both Varun Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi were dropped from the BJP's 80-member national executive committee.

"The video is crystal clear. Protestors cannot be silenced through murder. There has to be accountability for the innocent blood of farmers that has been spilled and justice must be delivered before a message of arrogance and cruelty enters the minds of every farmer," he had said in one of his tweets.