Varun Gandhi's life after BJP - here's what lies next for him

New Delhi: It is almost certain that Varun Gandhi, a Lok Sabha member from Pilibhit, is not going to remain in Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) but is he joining Congress, that’s the key question now.

Varun, the grandson of Indira Gandhi and son of Sanjay Gandhi and former Union minister Maneka Gandhi, joined BJP in 2004 and he is a three-term member of Lok Sabha from the party.

Political observers say Varun has had many discussions with his cousin and Congress general sectary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra about what lies next for him.

“One credible option emerging now is that Varun may fight the next Lok Sabha election as an independent candidate supported by Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). Congress will not have an issue if he opts for this option but it is yet to be seen whether Samajwadi Party will support his candidature. Maneka had good relations with SP patriarch late Mulayam Singh Yadav but it is yet to be seen whether Akhilesh Yadav would be willing to support her and Varun as well,” said a political observer who has followed Varun’s political journey.

As an independent Varun will get enough political manoeuvrability that he may not be able to exercise within Congress which now revolves around Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Varun has been totally sidelined within the BJP. He was a rising star in the Uttar Pradesh BJP when Rajnath Singh held the party command before the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine took over the party.

Varun won his first Lok Sabha election in 2009 and was made BJP general secretary in 2013, also given charge of affairs of West Bengal. But in February 2014, when a controversy arose about attendance at the then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s rally in Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Grounds, Varun Gandhi said the number of people attending the rally was not more than 45 to 50 thousand. This was taken note of by the party leadership which had by then started revolving around Modi and Shah.

Before the UP assembly elections, Varun tried to stake a claim as a chief ministerial candidate in the state which also did not go down well with the party leadership. His statements also were at variance with the party line on the issues of farm laws and the citizen amendment act.

Varun was removed from the party’s National Executive last year. Ever since Varun has been acting as a voice independent of the BJP. In all likelihood, Varun will not be given the ticket to contest the next Lok Sabha elections if he stays in BJP. It is clear that Varun has no future in BJP now.

Aligning with Congress seems to be the only option left for the 42-year-old leader as he would not like to confine himself to a regional party but the nature of his alignment with Congress is yet to take shape.