Varun speech against family ideals: Priyanka

New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi, who is in her mother's Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh on Monday, took a dig at BJP leader Varun Gandhi for his alleged hate speeches.

“What Varun had said clearly goes against the principles of the Gandhi family. It is really sad to see him saying all these things on television," Priyanka said.

She also advised her cousin to “read Gita and try to understand it properly.”

Priyanka is in Rae Bareli to attend the first meeting with party workers ahead of the General Elections.

During her stay in the constituency, Priyanka will attend many closed-door meetings at various places in Rae Bareli and neighbouring Amethi (brother Rahul Gandhi's constituency) and interact with grassroot level workers.

Many Congress workers want Priyanka to contest the Lok Sabha polls, but she has held out so far.

"I do not have any political ambitions. I am here to strengthen the party and campaign for my brother and my mother as they will be busy campaigning for the party across the country," Priyanka told reporters on March 3 in Amethi.

What happened in Pilibhit

Varun, the 29-year-old son of five-time Pilibhit MP Maneka Gandhi, created a storm by allegedly adopting a fanatical pro-Hindu stance in his speeches.

However, Varun, in his reply to the Election Commission on Friday, claimed the CD which had alleged recordings of his speech, had been tampered with. The Commission responded by saying Varun had to prove the CD was doctored.

Varun has refused to apologise and told CNN-IBN in an interview that he is being harassed because he spoke for Hindus. “I never made any communal statements. I went to an area in which I felt Hindus were being targeted, so I spoke in favour of the Hindu community. It is a very sad day in the Indian politics when anyone who speaks for Hindus is branded communal,” he said.

Varun has been booked under stringent laws relating to ‘promoting enmity between different groups’, ‘deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings’ and statements conducing to public mischief.