The BJP’s youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), on Monday flaunted Varun Gandhi as a prize catch as it paraded its own Young Turks at a function where senior party leader Sushma Swaraj took a dig at the media for being swayed by the “gore chitte, chikne chupde” (fair, chocolate-faced) leaders of Rahul Gandhi’s team, even as she alleged that the media “gave the BJP’s young MPs the short shrift”.

The BJYM function, that had a banner upholding the “primacy of ideology”, presented mementos to its young MPs, beginning with Varun, followed by Shahnawz Hussein and others like Dushyant Singh, Anurag Thakur, Sanjay Jaiswal, Saroj Dubey, J Shanta, Nishikant Thakur, Jyoti Dhurve and Arjun Munda.

Even as Varun, Dushyant, Anurag and Sanjay come from entrenched political families, Sushma accused the Congress of perpetuating virasat ki rajniti (dynastic politics). “MPs like Meenakshi Natrajan get prominence because they are attached to the office of Congress general secretary (Rahul Gandhi). Our own MPs don’t get that kind of prominence,” added Sushma, prompting Varun to say “involve her (Meenakshi) with us (in BJP)” that had the gathering in splits.

Sushma said ,“virtually anybody could rise to the top in the BJP whereas in the Congress only those born with a political legacy have a future. ” Alluding to Rahul’s membership drives for the Youth Congress and NSUI teams, Swaraj said, “Congress first plasters a city with posters and hoardings of its leaders. Then it takes these chocolate faces to the city. Obviously, glamour has its own attraction among the youth and they join the party.”

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