Maneka suggests bypoll defeat should make BJP rehabilitate son Varun

Varun was dropped as BJP VP in August

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Maneka Gandhi today suggested that her son Varun should be given more responsibility in the party organisation post in the wake of the embarrassing assembly by-polls loss in Uttar Pradesh.

Last month, new party president Amit Shah had reconstituted his team of office bearers, dropping Varun as one of BJP's vice presidents. Varun is an MP from Sultanpur in UP, while his mother Maneka Gandhi, an MP from UP's Aonla, is the Women and Child Minister in the Narendra Modi-led cabinet.

Today, Gandhi was asked whether she would like to comment on the absence of star campaigners, including her son Varun, during the by-polls. She said, "Absolutely not", and then quipped "Okay, so now we are just going to bring him (Varun) back". Gandhi, days before BJP organisaitonal re-jig, had said Varun would make for a good chief ministerial candidate of the BJP when the party goes into the 2017 assembly elections in UP.

Today, Gandhi also said her ministry has not received any official complaint relating to 'love jihad', but as an MP she has been apprised of a few such cases. Asked about the issue of "love jihad", Gandhi said at a press conference here, "...We have had no official complaint in the ministry, so as a minister, I cannot say that we have..."

"However, as a Member of Parliament, in my constituency people have come and complained to me and there have been about seven to eight such cases which we have referred to the police. So I am going to separate the two," she said.

The minister also sought to clarify her earlier controversial remarks suggesting that money earned from illegal animal slaughter was being used for perpetrating acts of terrorism. Gandhi said she was quoting from a report of the Uttar Pradesh police. She also said that a leading daily had put that report of the UP police on its front page.