© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A day after Jitin Prasada filed his nomination papers for the Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat, sitting BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Thursday wrote an open letter to the people of the constituency, promising to continue working for them at any cost.
Jitin Prasada, who replaced Varun, filed his papers on Wednesday, the last date to do so in eight Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh for the first phase, including Pilibhit. After Jitin filed his papers, UP president Bhupendra Chaudhary said the party would speak to Varun to campaign for the Lok Sabha election 2024. “Varun Gandhi BJP ke neta hain aur humare saath hain. Unka upyog party theek se karegi (Varun Gandhi is a BJP leader and is with the party),” Bhupendra Chaudhary had said.
In his emotional letter, Varun said the constituency has nurtured him not just as a Member of Parliament but also as an individual. “I am writing to you as uncountable memories have made me sentimental. I still remember that 3-year-old child, who had come to Pilibhit for the first time in 1983 with his mother. He did not know that the land would become his karma bhumi and its people would become his family,” he wrote.
Pilibhit has been represented for decades by either Maneka Gandhi or Varun Gandhi. While Maneka Gandhi has been a Member of Parliament from Pilibhit six times, Varun Gandhi has represented the constituency twice — in 2009 and then in 2019. In 2019, he defeated Hemraj Verma of the Samajwadi Party by a margin of about 2.5 lakh votes.
Amid reports that Varun could contest as an Independent candidate against Jitin in Pilibhit, he did not do so. However, he also did not seek support for the Pilibhit Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in his letter.
Talking about the end of his term as MP, Varun said his relationship with Pilibhit is beyond “rajnitik guna bhag (political calculations)” and promised to work for them till his last breath. He also said he has always raised his voice for the welfare of the people of the constituency as their representative.
Varun said he might not be able to serve them as a Member of Parliament but would continue to do so as their “son”. “Mere darwaze aapke liye hamesha pehle jaise khule rahenge (My doors will always be open for you),” he wrote, adding he had come into politics to raise the voice of common people and would continue to do so at “any cost”.
He ended his letter by saying that his relationship with Pilibhit is that of love and trust. “Main aapka tha aur rahunga,” he said.
