BJP CEC Likely to Decide Varun Gandhi’s Fate

A decision on Varun Gandhi’s alleged anti-Muslim statements at pre-election meetings across his Uttar Pradesh constituency, Pilibhit will be on the agenda when the Bharatiya Janata Party Central Election Committee meets in New Delhi on Monday.

The BJP is likely to discuss the matter that invited the wrath of the electoral reforms body and resulted in criminal charges against Gandhi, the 29 year old parliamentary hopeful from Pilibhit.

So far, the party has refrained from reacting to the controversy but iterated that the views expressed by the young Varun Gandhi were not a reflection of the party ideology and culture.

The EC order on Sunday, severely indicted Gandhi for his alleged pronouncements and asked BJP not to field him as a candidate in the Lok Sabha polls.

Gandhi has repeatedly said that the words attributed to him in the video footage being aired on television channels were not his and claims that he is a victim of a political controversy attempting to taint him communal.

He further alleged that the video footage showing him making the statements was “doctored.”

Varun’s claims notwithstanding, the EC says the onus to prove that the video footage is ‘doctored’ lies on Varun Gandhi.

The BJP CEC is meets this afternoon following which the party is expected to issue a statement on the matter, say media reports attributing the inputs to BJP sources.

In an indication to the mood prevalent in the BJP, party spokesman Prakash Javdekar has said that it was not the EC’s job to decide as to who should contest the polls and any action with regard to someone’s candidature could be taken only by the courts.

Political pundits suggest that with the controversy refusing to die down the BJP just might pull Varun Gandhi off the list of party candidates but support him by not fielding a candidate from the Pilibhit parliamentary segment.