New Delhi, June 20: Varun Gandhi, whose alleged hate speeches triggered a row during the elections, should not be made a scapegoat for the BJP’s poll
debacle, his mother Maneka Gandhi said at the party’s national executive meet on Saturday.
Launching a strong defence of her son, Maneka alleged that those who lost the elections were wrongly blaming their defeat on Varun’s speeches. In an apparent reference to chief poll strategist and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Arun Jaitley, she alleged he was not accessible even on the phone and was mainly involved in planting stories in the media.
She sought to draw a contrast between his way of functioning to that of his predecessor late Pramod Mahajan, who she said enquired about the day-to-day progress of the candidates.
The MP from Aonla praised the Uttar Pradesh unit of the party but said it failed to produce results as the election in-charge “did not work at all”.
She claimed the exit of Kalyan Singh from the party was a big loss and led to the defeat of leaders like Santosh Gangwar, who lost from Bareilly.
Maneka criticised the party’s rigid stand on giving the ticket to Ashok Pradhan from Bulandshahr which had triggered Kalyan Singh’s decision to quit.
–Agencies