Lucknow: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Maneka Gandhi has been accused of adding fuel to fire after her son Varun Gandhi allegedly made communally inflammatory speeches in his Pilibhit constituency in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

A petition filed before the Allahabad High Court Wednesday questioning Varun Gandhi's election has also sought the disqualification of Maneka, who got elected from the neighbouring Aonla parliamentary constituency after making way for her son in Pilibhit.

"Maneka Gandhi played a dirty communal card which completely divided the electorate," alleged V.M. Singh in his writ petition. A Congress leader, Singh lost the election from Pilibhit.

The petition said "even when the magistrate in Pilibhit told Varun Gandhi on March 28 that he could not be arrested as there was no case against him, Varun got an affidavit sworn by Pilibhit district chief Yogendra Gangwar to the effect that Varun wanted to surrender and be sent to judicial custody".

The petition said: "After Varun succeeded in his mission to get arrested and was sent to jail as per a premeditated design to gain sympathy, his mother Maneka Gandhi came to Pilibhit at about 6 p.m. (from Aonla) and went to the district hospital at Pilibhit to meet those injured in the police firing that followed Varun's arrest drama.

"Maneka added fuel to fire by giving the arrest drama a further communal turn by alleging before TV channels that a Muslim police inspector Parvez Mian of Kotwali Bisalpur had opened fire on the demonstrators in Pilibhit.

"Unfortunately, Maneka Gandhi had not cared to even verify whether Parvez Mian was present in Pilibhit or not. Incidentally, Parvez Mian was posted at Barkhera, about 14-15 km from Pilibhit, and was assisting a zonal magistrate and had not even come to Pilibhit that day.

"Evidently, Maneka's aim was only to get it into the Hindu mindset that a Muslim inspector had initiated the firing and was instrumental in injuring more than 50 percent of those injured only with the intention to garner Hindu votes for her son.

"Local calculations reveal that Hindus polled about over 80 percent as compared to about 40 percent by Muslims. In fact, due to the fear psychosis created by the hate speeches, less than 15-20 percent of the Muslim women turned out to vote."

While urging the court to declare Varun's election "void", the petitioner also sought disqualification of Maneka Gandhi under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 as she was allegedly as much responsible for creating a communal divide as her son.

Petitioner Singh, who is Maneka's cousin, has at length cited excerpts from the series of hate speeches allegedly delivered by Varun Gandhi in different parts of Pilibhit. He has further alleged that the young BJP MP even went to the extent of concocting stories with a view to gaining political mileage by forging a communal divide.

The court is yet to fix a date for hearing the petition.

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