Pilibhit: End of the Gandhi legacy?

For the first time since 1989, the constituency of Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh will not have a ‘Gandhi’ as the Lok Sabha candidate. 

In 1989, Maneka Gandhi won on a Janata Dal Party ticket and lost to BJP candidate Parashuram in 1991. However, she has been winning consistently since then in 1996 on Janata Dal ticket again, in 1998 as an independent candidate and again in 1999 as an independent. 

In 2004 she joined the BJP and won. In 2009. 2014 and 2019, her son Varun Gandhi won from here.

But Varun Gandhi has been denied the ticket in 2024 and the BJP is instead fielding Central Minister Jatin Prasad Maurya. 

Meanwhile, Maneka Gandhi is representing Sultanpur as MP.

Apparently, Varun Gandhi was hopeful of being accommodated in the Central Cabinet after 2019 but that did not happen. However, he was part of the National Executive body of the BJP along with his mother. 

Varun put his own government on the back foot by speaking in support of the farmers’ agitation, the Lakhimpuri incident and a host of other issues. 

Embarrassingly for the BJP, his support for the farmers came when Uttar Pradesh was going to polls and Yogi Adityanath was seeking a mandate for the second time. 

Varun and his mother were dropped from the national executive. Perhaps realizing he had gone too far, Varun softened his stance and started to praise the BJP and Modi but it was too late. The damage had already been done.

The BJP is going all out to ensure the victory of Jatin Prasada Maurya and Modi himself held a rally there recently. It was the first time that a Prime Minister had held a rally in Pilibhit. 

The victory of Jatin Prasad could well ensure the end of the ‘Gandhi’ legacy in Pilibhit.