The BJP leadership’s attempt to play a Gandhi versus Gandhi card in the coming UP elections has received a setback with national executive member Varun Gandhi refusing the party’s offer to contest either the Mirzapur or Bilhaur Lok Sabha byelections.

BJP sources confirmed that the Uttar Pradesh state unit had been keen to field Varun in one of the two seats and the party’s central leaders — including president Rajnath Singh and LK Advani — had endorsed the decision.

In 2004, both the seats were won by BSP candidates — Raja Ram Pal won the Bilhaur seat and Narendra Kushwaha bagged Mirzapur. The two were among the 11 MPs caught in the “cash-for-questions” scandal and subsequently expelled from the Lok Sabha.

The BJP was keen to field Varun for three reasons, sources said. First, both Bilhaur (which adjoins Kanpur) in central UP and Mirzapur in eastern UP have a sizeable Brahmin population. Since the Nehru-Gandhis, despite their pan Indian appeal, are regarded as the premier UP Brahmin family, Varun was a good choice for the otherwise “difficult” seats, BJP leaders felt. Second, his youth and crowd-pulling capacity would help the BJP in the adjoining assembly seats, it was felt. And third, with Rahul Gandhi expected to play a lead role in the Congress campaign in UP, the BJP felt that fielding their “own” Gandhi at this juncture would work in the party’s favour in the crucial assembly polls.

However, Varun— who has been keeping a very low profile ever since the BJP leadership denied him the ticket to contest the Vidisha parliamentary seat in Madhya Pradesh last October — refused to play ball.

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