Maneka Gandhi hits back at Priyanka over her remarks on Varun

 

Lucknow: Congress leader Priyanka Vadra’s statement on Saturday that her cousin Varun Gandhi has gone ‘astray’ and people sho-uld show him the right path, has evoked a sharp reaction from her aunt  Maneka Gandhi.“If serving your country is called diversion from the route then who has got diverted, let the country decide it,”  Maneka Gandhi told reporters while campaigning in Pilibhit on Sunday.

 

Priyanka, while addressing a closed door meeting with party workers in Sultanpur, late on Saturday, had said, “If you think that someone from my family is contesting the Sultanpur seat, you are right. He (Varun Gandhi) is from my family, he is my brother. But he has gone astray and when a young member of the family chooses the wrong path, then the elders should show them the right path. I urge all of you to show my brother the right path.”

 

She further said that the blood in her family spoke of love and unity and not of hatred and division. Priyanka’s speech was apparently recorded on a mobile phone by one of the party workers present there and then given to a news channel later in the night. This is the first time that a member of the Gandhi family has spoken against Varun Gandhi. In fact, two weeks ago, Mr Varun Gandhi had appreciated the work done by his elder cousin Rahul Gandhi in Amethi. He had also declined to campaign against his cousin and had said that he would maintain political decorum and decency in his campaign.

 

His mother Maneka Gandhi, at that time, had also pulled up her son for appreciating Rahul Gandhi and has said that Varun was not well versed with the ground realities in Amethi.

 

Priyanka's statement in Sultanpur has apparently widened the fissures between the two Gandhi families and given new fodder for discussion in political circles. Varun Gandhi, so far, has chosen not to react to the statement made by Priyanka or the reaction given by his mother.

 

The BJP has come out to Varun’s defence saying that he is on the “right track”. “I believe that Varun Gandhi is on the right track. If anyone has misled the country from the right path it is Congress. Varun is a good man and is playing a good role in the party,” BJP president Rajnath Singh said. Congress leader Meem Afzal said that everyone will agree with what Priyanka has said.