Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Opens Congress’ Door For Varun Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday extended an invitation to BJP MP Varun Gandhi to join the grand old party.

“He (Varun Gandhi) is a strong leader with a clean image, and he has a connection with the Gandhi family. This is why the BJP denied him (Lok Sabha poll) ticket. I think he should come (join Congress), we will be very happy,” he told a presser.

On Sunday, the BJP dropped Varun from Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat but retained his mother, Maneka Gandhi, from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Varun was replaced by Uttar Pradesh minister Jitin Prasada as the Lok Sabha candidate from the constituency.

He reportedly fell out of favour with the BJP for criticising the party’s governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh on several occasions.

When questioned about the potential return of his cousin Varun to the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, however, had earlier said that their ideologies are not aligned. “He (Varun Gandhi) at some point, maybe even today, accepted that ideology and made it his own. I can never accept that thing. I can definitely meet him, hug him, but cannot accept that ideology. Impossible,” he had said.