Varun Gandhi’s views surprise cousin Rahul

September 25th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Officials in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday expressed their displeasure over the surprise visit of Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi to the state. Rahul Gandhi visited Bahraich district and met the villagers.

June 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Commenting on Varun Gandhi's 'hate speech' tapes, Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh has said let the law take its own course. A probe panel found that Varun Gandhi's tapes of hate speech were not doctored.

June 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi took oath as the members of the 15th Lok Sabha on Tuesday.cknowledging greetings from opposition ranks, Rahul shook hands with Leader of Opposition L K Advani. He also greeted former Uttar Pradesh Chief Ministers Mulayam Singh Yadav and Kalyan Singh.

May 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - They belong to India's first political family. And now four famous Gandhis, mother-son duos at that, will find themselves sitting on opposite benches in parliament for the first time.

May 1st, 2009 ALIGARH/ PILIBHIT - Rival scions of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty are campaigning across the country to woo voters for general elections. Rahul Gandhi of the Congress Party and his cousin Varun Gandhi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made development their poll plank.

May 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court Friday extended the parole of Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Lok Sabha candidate Varun Gandhi till May 14, the day after balloting concludes in the five-phase general elections. A bench of Chief Justice K.G.

April 1st, 2009 RANCHI - While Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh defended Varun Gandhi Wednesday, party MP and Bollywood veteran Hema Malini sang a different tune here, describing as 'inexperienced' the Pilibhit candidate now in jail on charges of vilifying Muslims in his campaign speeches. 'The way Varun addressed the (election) rally (in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit) was not good.

March 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday backed its controversial candidate Varun Gandhi, in the dock for his alleged communal speeches, and indicated that he could go ahead and court arrest after he withdrew his bail plea from the Delhi High Court. 'There is definitely an element of political vendetta against Varun Gandhi.

March 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW -With Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Varun Gandhi threatening to move the Supreme Court after an Uttar Pradesh court Wednesday ruled that there was a strong case against him for his alleged communal speeches, the party's key ally Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal-United fuelled the controversy by stating that 'legal action' should be taken against Gandhi. The Allahabad High Court, while refusing to intervene in the arrest of the budding politician, who is in the dock for his alleged communal speeches that has led to a criminal case being filed against him, said there was a strong case against the BJP's Pilibhit candidate who, while hogging the headlines, has been protesting his innocence.

March 25th, 2009 PUDUCHERRY - A day after Congress president Sonia Gandhi endorsed Manmohan Singh's name as the prime ministerial candidate if the ruling coalition again came to power, her son and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi Wednesday said Manmohan Singh had achieved a 'hell of a lot' and had both toughness and grit. Rejecting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K.

March 25th, 2009 PUDUCHERRY - Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday that the country has progressed a great deal under the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Addressing a press conference here today, he said, "Manmohan Singh is not a weak prime minister.

March 24th, 2009 LUCKNOW - The Dharma Raksha Manch (DRM), a Hindu group affiliated to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Tuesday said that the Gandhi family has been absolved of all its 'sins' by the alleged anti-Muslim speech given by estranged member Varun Gandhi. Referring to Varun's speech in Pilibhit, DRM co-convener Hans Das said: 'Varun has freed Gandhis from all sins.' 'Though Varun belongs to the same Gandhi family, his outlook is quite different as he always thinks of the welfare of the Hindu community,' Das said at a programme organised here by the organisation.

March 23rd, 2009 RAE BARELI - Varun Gandhi's communally volatile comments were against the traditions that the Gandhi family had 'lived and died for', his estranged cousin Priyanka Vadra said Monday, and suggested he read the Bhagvad Gita. In comments that once again revealed the deep rift in the Gandhi family -- with late prime minister Indira Gandhi's two widowed daughters-in-law representing two ends of the Indian political spectrum -- Priyanka was candid in her criticism of Varun Gandhi's inflammatory comments while campaigning as a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in Pilibhit.

March 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday said it was'unfortunate' if Varun Gandhi made hate speeches that have drawn strong reactions across the nation. Talking to reporters at the Defence Investiture Ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the prime minister said: 'It is unfortunate if Varun Gandhi had made these comments.' Varun Gandhi, 29, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Pilibhit, is in a midst of a raging controversy over his alleged hate speech against Muslims.

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.