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After lying low for some time, the firebrand BJP Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi is back to his ‘bad old ways’. The young Gandhi was said to be furious when the media reported about his run-in with senior BJP leaders at a meeting of the party’s Uttar Pradesh core group last week. Not only did he seek a written apology from a correspondent of a Lucknow-based newspaper who had reported on the meeting, but he also wanted BJP president Nitin Gadkari to take action against party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi as he suspected the senior leader to have leaked the details of the closed-door confabulations to the press.
As it happens, Varun and Naqvi had exchanged hot words during the core group meeting. At one point, when Naqvi asked the younger leader to follow party discipline, Varun Gandhi replied, ‘I am the party’. This superior attitude has irked many BJP leaders from UP who complain that Varun Gandhi believes his pedigree entitles him to a special status in the party. Varun Gandhi, however, is riding high as reports coming in from the campaign trial in Assam said that his election meetings drew even larger crowds than those addressed by Sushma Swaraj and other senior leaders.
As it happens, Varun and Naqvi had exchanged hot words during the core group meeting. At one point, when Naqvi asked the younger leader to follow party discipline, Varun Gandhi replied, ‘I am the party’. This superior attitude has irked many BJP leaders from UP who complain that Varun Gandhi believes his pedigree entitles him to a special status in the party. Varun Gandhi, however, is riding high as reports coming in from the campaign trial in Assam said that his election meetings drew even larger crowds than those addressed by Sushma Swaraj and other senior leaders.
