Sultanpur, May 23: In Sultanpur, near high-profile Amethi, BJP’s Maneka Gandhi appears to be fighting a lone battle to retain her parliamentary seat with few top leaders of her party canvassing for her and no opposition biggies campaigning against her either.
Sultanpur goes to polls on May 25 and Thursday is the last day of campaigning.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed a public meeting in support of Maneka Gandhi in Qazipur on Wednesday.
Her son Varun Gandhi, who has been benched by the BJP in this Lok Sabha election, is expected to join her for campaigning on Thursday.
Her nephew Rahul Gandhi and niece Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have visited Uttar Pradesh multiple times to canvass for INDIA bloc candidates but have not campaigned against her.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati campaigned in Sultanpur in support of her party’s candidate Udraj Verma, an OBC, on Wednesday and attacked both the BJP and the Congress.
Despite little help from the BJP’s big guns, Maneka Gandhi is confident of steering her party to victory in Sultanpur, which was represented by Varun Gandhi before 2019.
In an interview with PTI, the sitting Sultanpur MP asserted that her victory margin this time will be bigger than last time.
Varun addresses his
first poll rally
BJP leader Varun Gandhi on Thursday addressed his first rally in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls in support of Maneka Gandhi, and said his mother has a close connection with the people of her Sultanpur constituency.
“Elections are going on everywhere in the country…but there is only one region in the country where people don’t call their MP, Sansad ji, Mantri ji, or by her name, but call her mata ji,” the Pilibhit MP said here amid applause from the public.
“I am confident that this time you people are going to break all the records. I have no enmity with anyone. When I came to Sultanpur for the first time, I felt the ‘Khusbhu’ (fragrance) of my father here, but today I feel proud to say that I have come to my motherland,” he said.
This is the first time Varun Gandhi has addressed a rally this election season. He has remained out of the public space ever since he was replaced by the BJP with Jitin Prasada from Pilibhit, which went to polls in the first phase of the elections.
At the rally, Varun Gandhi said that if a crisis befalls any family of Sultanpur, they should not consider themselves alone. (PTI)
