NSA against Varun unjustified: V.C. Shukla

May 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Senior Congress leader Rajeev Shukla on Sunday said that the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which had not contested with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), should not be part of the next government. "The SP and the RJD, which had contested on their own, should not be part of the next government.

May 14th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Mayawati-led Uttar Pradesh Government on Thursday revoked the National Security Act (NSA) invoked against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi for allegedly making hate speeches. UP Government's decision came hours after the Supreme Court ordered the State Government to revoke the NSA against Varun Gandhi.

April 22nd, 2009 PILIBHIT - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi will file his nomination papers from Pilibhit today. Varun, who is on a two-week parole after being jailed under the National Securities Act (NSA) for his alleged hate speech, will be accompanied by his mother Maneka Gandhi.

April 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party leader Varun Gandhi met senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani on Saturday for the first time since his release from the Etah District Jail on Thursday. During their meeting, Advani reportedly told Varun to respect the undertaking he had put before the Supreme Court.

April 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh Thursday night welcomed the release on parole of the party's Pilibhit candidate Varun Gandhi and said the young leader would 'certainly' campaign for the party. Varun Gandhi, who was released from Etah Jail in Uttar Pradesh in the evening, reached the national capital after 10 p.m.

April 16th, 2009 ETAH - Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Varun Gandhi Thursday walked out of Etah jail after 20 days of being behind bars for his allegedly inflammatory campaign speeches. Varun walked out at around 6.30 p.m.

April 3rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh on Friday announced that his party would not sit quiet on Varun Gandhi issue. "I will be visiting Varun Gandhi in jail on Monday.

March 29th, 2009 PILIBHIT - Former Union Minister and mother of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi, on Sunday said registration of cases against her son was part of a 'political conspiracy'. "The registration of cases against Varun is part of a political conspiracy.

March 25th, 2009 MUMBAI - Beleaguered Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi, in a spot over his alleged 'hate speeches', Wednesday thanked Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray for supporting him and endorsing his views. 'I thank Bal Thackeray for his support,' Varun has been quoted as saying in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna.

March 25th, 2009 RAIPUR - Karuna Shukla, niece of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, filed her nomination papers Wednesday as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for the Korba Lok Sabha seat in Chhattisgarh. Shukla filed her papers in the presence of Chief Minister Raman Singh and several other seniors members of the party.

March 24th, 2009 LUCKNOW - As the controversy over Varun Gandhi's alleged anti-Muslim speech rages, the Dharma Raksha Manch (DRM), an off shoot of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Monday come out in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. 'We hail Varun for raising the flag of Hinduism.

March 23rd, 2009 RAIPUR - Karuna Shukla, the niece of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will battle it out again for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against old rival Charandas Mahant of the Congress in Chhattisgarh - but she may not be on very firm ground this time. Shukla, the BJP national vice-president, and Mahant, the state Congress working president, fought a close contest in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls in Janjgir constituency.

March 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With Varun Gandhi's alleged communal tirade fetching him unprecedented publicity, some leaders of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can't stop comparing him with his more famous cousin Rahul Gandhi. 'Let's send the hard-hitting Varun after Rahul,' quipped one at the party office, even though the BJP has officially distanced itself from Varun's alleged hate speech against Muslims in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh.

March 20th, 2009 KOLKATA - Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami Thursday said it is for Varun Gandhi to prove that the tape, which allegedly show him delivering inflammatory speeches, was 'doctored'.

March 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday said it has dissociated itself from the statements attributed to its Pilibhit candidate Varun Gandhi. 'The BJP disapproves and dissociates itself from the statements attributed to Mr Varun Gandhi,' party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told a news conference here.