Two Gandhis poised to lock horns in elections

New Delhi: Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to appoint young parliamentarian Varun Gandhi as its state unit president in Uttar Pradesh.

The appointment, expected to be made early next year, will pitch Varun against his more popular cousin Rahul Gandhi of India's ruling Congress party in the upcoming state legislative assembly elections in India's most populous state, due in August 2012.

Varun, 30, a first-time member of Lok Sabha from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, is currently one of the national secretaries of the BJP and has been given independent charge of Assam.

Depending on his performance in Assam, which is slated to elect its new assembly next year, Varun may be entrusted with the responsibility of reviving the party in Uttar Pradesh.

Cousin Rahul, 40, is national general secretary of his party and is working towards bringing the Congress party to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2012.

Sources in the BJP yesterday confirmed that the party is actively considering Varun for the Uttar Pradesh assignment.

"The idea has been mooted in this regard and a final decision will be taken by our president [Nitin Gadkari] in due course," said a national vice-president of the BJP.

According to him, the party is unhappy with the performance of Surya Pratap Sahai, who was named by Gadkari as the state unit chief in May as he has failed to invigorate the party and its cadres. Sahai had replaced Rampati Ram Tripathi, who headed the state unit since September 2007 due to his unimpressive performance.

Incidentally, Uttar Pradesh is the home state of Gadkari's predecessor Rajnath Singh, who happened to be the last BJP chief minister in the state when it lost power in 2002.

Going downhill

Since then the party's graph has been going down alarmingly in the state. From being the number one party in Uttar Pradesh, it is now placed fourth behind the state's ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party and the Congress, which under Rahul surprised everyone by winning 22 seats as against 10 by the BJP in last year's general elections from Uttar Pradesh.

Both Rahul and Varun are grandsons of former prime minister Indira Gandhi and are fighting for the political legacy of the elite Gandhi-Nehru family. Seeing the success Rahul has achieved in revitalising the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP think-tank has veered round to the view that Varun may also perform similar magic in the state.

BJP sources say that Varun, who initially was a man in a hurry, has realised that the best course for him is to rise gradually in politics.