Parivar’s Gandhi debuts with a hit

Today was the day for the BJP to show off its latest Gandhi acquisition. Debuting at a BJP function to hand over a Rs 7 crore cheque raised ...

Today was the day for the BJP to show off its latest Gandhi acquisition. Debuting at a BJP function to hand over a Rs 7 crore cheque raised in campaign funds to party’s Maharashtra chief Gopinath Munde, ‘‘special attraction’’ Varun Feroze never left general secretary Pramod Mahajan’s side.

And when it was time for his first political speech, he said: ‘‘I left my speech on the dais…I thought if I read my speech, you would call me a reader, not a leader.’’

I was scared today, he said, looking straight at the jostling crowds before him. ‘‘But now I feel I am with my own people,’’ he said, much to the delight of the political veterans on stage.

While emphasising that he wasn’t there to make political speeches, Varun said: “ I want to ask the Opposition what they have done except leaving the masses hungry, jobless. Atalji has a big heart, the BJP’s the party with the biggest heart.’’ The NDA combine has seen the least communal violence, he said. ‘‘If it was any other party ruling, I don’t know how many pieces of Kashmir there would be by now.’’

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