Varun in Congress' camp?

Sections of the Congress Party in UP evidently want Varun Gandhi to be drafted into the Congress. The demand has been voiced by a general secretary of the state unit. That itself doesn’t mean much, for designations are given out of expediency these days, and do not necessarily conform to a person’s stature. Nevertheless, the demand is so out of the ordinary that it merits some attention.

Varun is as much a Nehru-Gandhi as his first cousins Rahul and Priyanka, but he chose to swing to the BJP. Those in UP who want him to be in the Congress to revive the party’s fortunes in the state overlook the fact that Varun had shot into prominence in the BJP some years ago after making flaming hot communal speeches against the Muslim community. It is for the Congress to decide — if it takes the demand with any seriousness — how these past speeches will play with the minority voter in the Assembly polls next year.

The BJP had grasped at Varun and made him a general secretary only because he was a Nehru-Gandhi. That was to cock a snook at Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. Since then the saffron party has shelved him. His utility for them seemed over with remarkable swiftness. If Varun recants his earlier known views, he could certainly be eligible to be in the Congress. Of course, asking for him indicates a lack of confidence in Rahul Gandhi’s abilities.