Varun Gandhi included in BJP's UP star campaigners' list

After initially dropping Varun Gandhi from the list of "star campaigners" in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP on Thursday included his name for the third and fourth phases of polling in the state, a party official said.

The parliamentarian from Sultanpur was named as the 39th star campaigner in a list of 40.

Initially presented as a firebrand youth leader, Varun Gandhi, son of the late Sanjay Gandhi and Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, was sidelined by Amit Shah after he took over the reins of the party.

The star campaigners list for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party President Amit Shah, Kanpur MP and veteran party leader Murli Manohar Joshi.

Also included are Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Uma Bharati, Arun Jaitley, M. Venkiah Naidu, Smriti Irani, Piyush Goel, V.K. Singh, Mukhtaar Abbas Naqvi and Nitin Gadkari.

Senior party functionaries Om Mathur, Vinay Katiyar, Swamy Prasad Maurya, and others would campaign for party candidates in the third and fourth phase also, the party leader said.

Veteran actress and politician Hema Malini, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari, comedian Raju Srivastav, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan will also pitch in.

--IANS

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