05-09-2009, 01:17 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Varun wave in Pilibhit and neighbourhood</b>
pioneer.com
Kumar Uttam | Pilibhit
Suresh Karmik is a local RSS worker who preferred to remain indoors in the past elections, notwithstanding stalwarts like Maneka Gandhi were contesting the seat. <b>This time around he is beating the heat to mobilise BJP supporters at Bariyapur on the outskirts of the Pilibhit city</b>.
Suresh goes around enquiring about people in his village who supported the BJP, but did not bother to cast their votes in the last election.
âI donât know what went wrong with the party in the last many years. It lost its influence over the voters and the cadre. This is a totally different election. We have an altogether different reason to vote,â Suresh said.
Sitting MP Maneka Gandhi has represented Pilibhit in Parliament many times in a row and this time she vacated the seat for her son Varun Gandhi and shifted to neighbouring Aonla seat.
â<b>She was a high-profile leader who had more trust on her staff than BJP workers. In previous elections, members of Maneka brigade were found more active than BJP's cadre,â </b>Manohar Lal, owner of a grocery shop at Baniyarpur Chowk, said after Suresh walked out of the scene.
<b>Varun has changed the entire scene. âAfter all this is for the first time in many years that any BJP leader has so firmly spoken about the Hindu cause. BJPâs fortune could have been totally different had any other leader shown such courage to speak out the truth that is known to everyone,â </b>Sushil Kumar, a local farmer said.
A local journalist Sharad Kumar says<b> Varun Gandhi, who was addressing Hindu Mahasabhas in Pilibhit and around for the last one and a half years, was on a sticky wicket before he allegedly made the inflammatory remarks that landed him behind the bars</b>.
â<b>But things took a different turn the day television channels beamed footages of Varunâs speeches. Today his victory is almost certain. Others are fighting to grab second position,â </b>Sharad asserts.
Whether he wins or loses, Varun is clearly the Hindu Hridya Samrat. After Varun captured the headlines for many days in a row, a senior BJP leader told journalists that he was waiting for a story to be written that the partyâs search for a Brahmin leader in UP was over.
What this senior functionary of the party might have said jokingly is actually turning out to be a reality, in some sense. BJPâs search for a Brahmin leader might not be over, but it certainly has found someone who has some kind of a fan following behind him, at least in this election.
<b>Many BJP strategists were of the opinion that Varun-type politics canât survive for long and has the potential to agitate NDA allies in an era of coalition politics, but party workers believe he can fill the vacuum created by Kalyan Singh, who remained the partyâs face in Uttar Pradesh for many years before his flip-flops</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
pioneer.com
Kumar Uttam | Pilibhit
Suresh Karmik is a local RSS worker who preferred to remain indoors in the past elections, notwithstanding stalwarts like Maneka Gandhi were contesting the seat. <b>This time around he is beating the heat to mobilise BJP supporters at Bariyapur on the outskirts of the Pilibhit city</b>.
Suresh goes around enquiring about people in his village who supported the BJP, but did not bother to cast their votes in the last election.
âI donât know what went wrong with the party in the last many years. It lost its influence over the voters and the cadre. This is a totally different election. We have an altogether different reason to vote,â Suresh said.
Sitting MP Maneka Gandhi has represented Pilibhit in Parliament many times in a row and this time she vacated the seat for her son Varun Gandhi and shifted to neighbouring Aonla seat.
â<b>She was a high-profile leader who had more trust on her staff than BJP workers. In previous elections, members of Maneka brigade were found more active than BJP's cadre,â </b>Manohar Lal, owner of a grocery shop at Baniyarpur Chowk, said after Suresh walked out of the scene.
<b>Varun has changed the entire scene. âAfter all this is for the first time in many years that any BJP leader has so firmly spoken about the Hindu cause. BJPâs fortune could have been totally different had any other leader shown such courage to speak out the truth that is known to everyone,â </b>Sushil Kumar, a local farmer said.
A local journalist Sharad Kumar says<b> Varun Gandhi, who was addressing Hindu Mahasabhas in Pilibhit and around for the last one and a half years, was on a sticky wicket before he allegedly made the inflammatory remarks that landed him behind the bars</b>.
â<b>But things took a different turn the day television channels beamed footages of Varunâs speeches. Today his victory is almost certain. Others are fighting to grab second position,â </b>Sharad asserts.
Whether he wins or loses, Varun is clearly the Hindu Hridya Samrat. After Varun captured the headlines for many days in a row, a senior BJP leader told journalists that he was waiting for a story to be written that the partyâs search for a Brahmin leader in UP was over.
What this senior functionary of the party might have said jokingly is actually turning out to be a reality, in some sense. BJPâs search for a Brahmin leader might not be over, but it certainly has found someone who has some kind of a fan following behind him, at least in this election.
<b>Many BJP strategists were of the opinion that Varun-type politics canât survive for long and has the potential to agitate NDA allies in an era of coalition politics, but party workers believe he can fill the vacuum created by Kalyan Singh, who remained the partyâs face in Uttar Pradesh for many years before his flip-flops</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->