Why Varun Gandhi was dropped out of Amit Shah’s team?

Days after being ratified as the Bharatiya Janata Party's president, Amit Shah announced party's new office bearers which include several members under the age of 50.

What has shocked many after the announcement of the list is that the two-time MP Varun Gandhi was dropped as general secretary. This has also led to raising of eyebrows as the party has at many occasions claimed that they believe young people can lead the nation in a better way.

While the list of vice presidents includes BS Yedurappa and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the general secretaries' list has names like Ram Madhav, Rajeev Pratap Ruddy etc.

The probable reasons of why Varun Gandhi was shown the door by BJP chief Amit Shah

As per reports, the reason behind dropping a known face of the party in UP is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi follows a policy of not giving any important assignment to a son or daughter of a chief minister or a union minister. Not to forget Varun Gandhi's mother, Maneka Gandhi is the Union Cabinet Minister for Women and Child Development in his government.

As per reports in HT, "BJP president Amit Shah's decision to drop Varun Gandhi from his new team announced on Saturday was apparently taken to reinforce discipline among party members, especially young leaders."

The report further said, "Sources said Shah's decision to sack the two-time MP is "temporary" and is only meant to be a signal of the leadership's seriousness in enforcing discipline and projecting a united face. A senior leader said the party had "some plans" for Varun and would finalise his "new" role and responsibility focused on the 2017 UP assembly elections."

Reports also cite another reason for dropping Varun and said that he has a tendency to act independent of the party as in the past during one of Modi's rallies in West Bengal, Varun Gandhi had told reporters that the turnout was 'okay' and only 50,000 people had turned up, whereas the party had claimed that over 2 lakh supporters had gathered in the rally to listen to Modi.

What is the BJP saying?

The sources within BJP have said that it is largely because of Narendra Modi's policy against nepotism that is why Varun Gandhi has not been included in the team by Amit Shah.

Meanwhile, the BJP secretary Siddharth Nath Singh also said, "There are many opportunities in the party, in the government and I am sure the party will look into his calibre and adjust him accordingly."

"Several senior BJP leaders called up Varun and told him not to lose heart as there could be some better things in store and at present, he would be asked to concentrate on UP," a leader said.

Well, the leaders seem to be taking Varun's side but it seems the announcement of team on Saturday has given a clear and loud message to Varun Gandhi.