BJP Releases 5th List of Candidates For Lok Sabha Elections: Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has dropped Varun Gandhi from the Pilibhit Lok Sabha constituency in its fifth list of 111 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party has declared former Congress leader Jitin Prasada, who joined the BJP in 2021, as the party candidate from the Pilibhit seat. Jitin Prasada, who is also a former Union Minister, had joined the BJP after facing being ignored from the Congress party. 

The party has however retained Varun Gandhi’s mother and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, who will be contesting the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur constituency.

There are reports that Varun Gandhi may join Congress

It is being said that Varun Gandhi, who criticised the BJP-led government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh, had lost his trust among the party leadership, which has cost him his candidature. In 2021, Varun Gandhi was ousted from the BJP's national executive team, allegedly after he questioned his own government while making remarks calling for fixing accountability and bringing the culprits to justice in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.

Not only this, last year, in an apparent dig at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Gandhi had stated that do not disrupt a nearby sadhu as nobody knows when 'Maharaj ji' will become a chief minister.

Earlier, this year, Varun Gandhi met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the Kedarnath Shrine, following which there are reports that he may join the Congress soon. 

Jitin Prasada, who has been allotted the Pilibhit constituency by the BJP as party’s Lok Sabha candidate, had made his electoral debut alongside Rahul Gandhi in 2004, when he had won Lok Sabha elections from the Shahjahanpur constituency. In 2008, he joined the then Manmohan Singh-led government at the Centre becoming one of the youngest ministers. His father Jitendra Prasada was also a four time MP from the Congress. In the 2009 elections, he won his Lok Sabha election from Dhaurahra seat. 

The 2024 Lok Sabha elections will take place in 7 phases across the country and result will be declared on June 4th.