Though no BJP leader is willing to speak on the subject, party insiders say in UP's electoral arena, Varun could be the perfect choice where young turks like Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav are in the reckoning.
A letter written by BJP MP Varun Gandhi to all the one lakh-odd newly-elected gram pradhans (village heads) of UP has sent the state BJP leadership into a tizzy.
Already, state BJP leaders are taken aback by an aggressive campaign on the social media by Varun's supporters, projecting him as the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for the 2017 UP Assembly election. Besides, there is a strong buzz in party circles that the young MP could be anointed as the state BJP president very soon.
Though no BJP leader is willing to speak on the subject, party insiders say in UP's electoral arena, Varun could be the perfect choice where young turks like Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav are in the reckoning.
There are 1,07,452 village pradhans in UP, all of them high on their victory in the recent panchayat elections. Since their election is not fought on party symbols, they are free to mingle, so to speak. A missive to all of them effectively means appealing to people's representatives at the very grassroots level. Political watchers would agree that this is a smart move on Varun's part in view of the upcoming assembly election.
Varun's letter is basically a note of congratulation to the gram pradhans. It carries a short message asking them to do their best to build UP into a "sashakt Pradesh" (strong state). The theme is seen as an answer to the Akhilesh regime's ongoing media campaign revolving around defining Uttar Pradesh as "uttam pradesh" (best state).
Alongside, the Varun Gandhi Youth Brigade has been running a campaign on the social media projecting the young Gandhi scion as "CM 2017" on its Facebook page. The slogan on the page says rather brazenly: "We want Varun government".
For his part, Varun has been touring UP quite extensively, and his visits are getting more frequent. He has been visiting families of farmers, who committed suicides due to crop losses, and has given them financial support from his own means.
Farmers form a major votebank, cutting across caste lines. They are known to be very upset with the Akhilesh government for a variety of reasons, especially for neglecting their plight during the drought.
Varun is also tipped to be the next state BJP president, which would automatically project him as the saffron brigade's face in the 2017 UP election even if he is not formally declared as the party's CM candidate.
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