New Delhi:

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Maneka Gandhi on Saturday said that she has “faith” in his son Varun Gandhi, who was not picked to defend his Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit.

Speaking to NDTV, Ms Gandhi said that she respects the party’s decision to field a different candidate.

“I cannot challenge the party’s decision and I respect it. I have so much faith in Varun Gandhi. He is a capable person and will do his best,” the former Union Minister said.

“Some people become a Member of Parliament and some become a politician without being an MP,” Ms Gandhi told NDTV and drew a parallel with Chandra Shekhar, who was the first Indian prime minister who had never held any prior government office.

“You never know what life has in store for you,” the Sultanpur MP, also a noted environmental activist, said.

Varun Gandhi is a two-time MP from Pilibhit, which has been a family affair since 1989 when it was won by Maneka Gandhi.

On Fighting From Sultanpur

Maneka Gandhi, who is contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur, said that she is happy that she has been given the opportunity again to serve the people of the constituency.

On being asked about her prediction on how many votes she would get, the eight-time MP said that she is trying her best every day to get as many votes as she can.

On Rahul Gandhi Contesting From Raebareli

On being asked about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi contesting from the neighboring Raebareli Lok Sabha seat, Maneka Gandhi said that she doesn’t comment on other leaders.

“I never comment on other leaders. If they’re fighting, they should be happy,” she said.

Mr Gandhi has been attacked by various other BJP leaders for deciding not to make an attempt to win back the family bastion of Amethi and contesting from the relatively safe seat of Raebareli. His mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had held the Raebareli constituency since 2004 before moving to the Rajya Sabha earlier this year.

On Inheritance Tax

She also spoke on the row over Sam Pitroda’s comment that the inheritance tax in the US was an interesting law and could contain issues that people can debate. Ms Gandhi said that it would be “unfair” to have an inheritance tax.

“I am against the inheritance tax. I just think it’s unfair to have an inheritance tax. A person tries to earn for his children his whole life and then you half of it. It would be good for other countries but I don’t think it’s right for India,” she said.

Mr Pitroda, who was an advisor to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and has been closely associated with his son Rahul Gandhi, accompanying him during his foreign visits, had last month stoked a debate over the BJP’s allegations that the Congress is planning a redistribution of wealth if it comes to power at the Centre after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“In America, there is an inheritance tax. If one has 100 million USD worth of wealth and when he dies he can only transfer probably 45 per cent to his children, 55 per cent is grabbed by the government. That’s an interesting law. It says you in your generation, made wealth and you are leaving now, you must leave your wealth for the public, not all of it, half of it, which to me sounds fair,” Mr Pitroda had told the news agency ANI.

The Congress, however, had distanced itself from the senior leader’s remarks and said they did not reflect the party’s position.

Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh:

The total declared assets of eight-time MP, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi are worth Rs 97.17 crore.

This was revealed in the affidavit filed by her on Wednesday in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur while filing a nomination from the Sultanpur Lok sabha seat.

Out of the total assets, Rs 45.97 crore was movable assets and Rs 51.20 crore was immovable.

Her bank had Rs 17.83 crore, which was Rs 18.47 crore in 2019. Her earnings showed growth in debentures, shares and bonds which she stated to have gained revenue worth Rs 24.30 crore, which was Rs 5.55 crore in 2019. Similarly, her post office savings also saw growth as she earned Rs 81.01 lakh.

In 2019, her earning was Rs 43.32 lakh. As per the affidavit, she owns 3.415 kg gold and 85 kg silver worth Rs 2.82 crore, along with a Rs 40,000 worth of rifle.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Sultanpur:

Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Sultanpur Lok Sabha seat, Maneka Gandhi, filed her nomination papers on Wednesday.

Maneka Gandhi is also the sitting MP from the Sultanpur seat. The BJP has again chosen to go with her in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Nishad Party chief and Uttar Pradesh minister, Sanjay Nishad, accompanied Maneka Gandhi while filing the nomination.

The Samajwadi Party has fielded Bheem Nishad from this seat.

Sultanpur will vote on May 25, in the sixth phase.

After filing her nomination, Maneka Gandhi said, “It is always a competition, but I think we will win. This time, there is less challenge.

Responding to Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s candidature from Amethi and Raebareli, Maneka said, “Only 2 days are left for nomination, I don’t know when they will reveal (the names).”

In the 2019 general election, Maneka Gandhi got 4,59,196 votes, while Bahujan Samaj Party candidate, Chandra Bhadra Singh got 4,44,670 votes.

Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya took a swipe at the Opposition INDIA bloc saying that they are in ICU and people are not ready to give them oxygen.

“The Opposition is nowhere in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. They are lying in the ICU and the public is not ready to give them oxygen. There is only one slogan in the entire country, that is, ‘Abki Baar, 400 Paar’ and once again the Modi government with a huge majority is going to be formed in the country,” Maurya said.

The polling in Uttar Pradesh is happening in all seven phases. The counting is scheduled for June 4.

Voting for eight seats in the state was concluded in the first phase on April 19 and another eight seats in the second phase on April 26.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the winner by securing the majority of seats available. Of 80 seats, the BJP won 62, followed by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with 10 seats, the Samajwadi Party (SP) with 5 seats, and the Apna Dal with 2 seats.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Sultanpur, UP:

 Days after BJP MP Varun Gandhi was denied a ticket from his constituency, his mother and BJP MP Maneka Gandhi, on her 10-day visit to Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur, broke silence and expressed happiness to be a part of the party.

On being asked what Varun Gandhi would do now, she replied, “Ask him what he wants to do. We will consider this after the elections. There is time.”

“I am very happy that I am in the BJP. I thank Amit Shah, PM Modi and Nadda Ji for giving me the ticket. The ticket was announced very late, so there was a dilemma as to where I should fight. From Pilibhit or Sultanpur. I am grateful for the decision the party has taken now,” she said.

She further added, “I am very happy that I came back to Sultanpur because this place has a history where no MP came back into power again in Sultanpur.”

It was her first visit to Sultanpur after getting the ticket. On her 10-day visit to the district, she will pay a visit to 101 villages of the entire Lok Sabha constituency.

She was given a warm welcome by the party leaders and workers at various places like Katka Guptarganj, Tatianagar, Tedhui, Golaghat, Shahganj Square, Dariyapur Tiraha and Payagipur Square.

During this, Maneka Gandhi also paid respect to the statues of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay.

BJP District President Dr. RA Verma, BJP State Minister Meena Choubey, Lok Sabha in-charge Durgesh Tripathi, Lok Sabha convenor Jagjit Singh Changu, MLA Raj Prasad Upadhyay, MLA Rajesh Gautam, and spokesperson Vijay Raghuvanshi, were present.

Earlier, Varun Gandhi penned a heartfelt letter to the people of his constituency, saying that his relationship with Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit will not end till his last breath.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

ISKCON on Friday said it has sent a Rs 100-crore defamation notice to BJP MP Maneka Gandhi for questioning the religious organisation over its upkeep of cows in its gaushalas (cowsheds).

An undated video of the former central minister has gone viral in which she could be heard making accusations against the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

“Today, we have sent a Rs 100-crore defamation notice to Maneka Gandhi for levelling completely unfounded allegations against ISKCON,” its vice-president Radharamn Das said in a statement.

Stating that the worldwide community of ISKCON devotees, supporters and well-wishers are deeply pained by the allegations, he termed these as “malicious accusations”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)