Varun Gandhi being targeted: Hindu Mahasabha

Defending BJP candidate from Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi for his "inflammatory utterances", the Hindu Mahasabha on Saturday, said that he was being targeted as he is speaking for the cause of "Hindutva".

The state unit president of the All India Hindu Mahasabha, Mahant Narayan Giri told newspersons that Varun Gandhi has said nothing wrong in his speech and was being targeted for speaking for the cause of "Hindutva".

He said the Mahasabha would not field its candidate against him in the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, where it would be fielding nominees from about three dozen seats.

The Mahasabha would also not not field a candidate from where Yogi Adityanath (Gorakhpur) would be contesting as he also stood up for the cause of Hindutva.

On the BJP, Giri said now that the saffron party has deviated from the issues related to Hindutva, there was no difference between it and any other political party.

"This is also a reason for the slide in popularity of the BJP," he added.

Hindu Mahasabha would also not not field candidates against the BJP nominees who speak for the cause of Hindutva, the Mahasabha leader said.