BJP tries but can't ignore Varun Gandhi in UP

ALLAHABAD: BJP may ignore its young leader from Uttar Pradesh, but Sultanpur MP Varun Gandhi's presence in this eastern Uttar Pradesh city which also happens to be his ancestral home-town is difficult to overlook.
Even now, Allahabad, the venue for BJP's first national executive in the state after a good four years since the last one in Lucknow, holds visible footprints of the Nehru-Gandhi family, with family houses strewn across as main landmarks and streets and buildings named after Varun's great grandfather Motilal Nehru or great grandmother Swaroop Rani.
People still line up on Sunday afternoons to see Anand Bhawan, the house of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Varun's grandfather.
It is not surprising therefore, that posters and banners of Varun Gandhi have filled up most of the space across the city , where BJP held its national executive meeting to create an impact in the state which is due for assembly elections in less than a year's time.
The posters with big pictures of PM Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and other party func tionaries alongside Varun welcoming the delegates are unlikely to find resonance in the party which is looking forward to its `Mission 2017' here, sources said.
Interestingly, it is not without reason Varun's presence is difficult to ignore in UP. The young Gandhi is a two-time MP from the state -having won in Pilibhit and Sultanpur -and has been tirelessly nurturing his constituency . Varun has been touring the state for the last seven years and has kept a hectic schedule in the last couple of years. His supporters feel it will be difficult to ignore a leader who has a “connect" with the people.