Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Congress general secretary Umesh Pandit has demanded that BJP MP Varun Gandhi should be roped in by the party and projected as Uttar Pradesh CM.

He also said that Varun had the potential to revive the Congress in Hindi heartland.

Pandit was quoted as saying by media reports - “Varun Gandhi has the potential to revive the Congress in UP. After all, he is a member of the Nehru-Gandhi family and the son of Sanjay Gandhi."

Batting for the BJP MP, he added that Varun had never said a single word against the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Varun, parliamentarian from Sultanpur, was in the middle of a controversy lately.

On June 13, BJP had issued show cause notice to two party workers, unhappy over Varun's blatant attempt to project himself as probable chief ministerial candidate, during two-day national executive conclave in Allahabad.

Hundreds of posters of Varun were put in the city to make sure that his candidacy is not missed, if the party is looking for a face to project in UP Assembly elections early next year.

However, the move did not go down well with the party`s central leadership.

After noticing the posters, BJP president Amit Shah asked for a report on the issue from party cadres, and it was found out that two local party workers, who supported Gandhi, were involved in the act of putting hundreds of hoardings and posters in the city.

The posters also had images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah.

The party leaders had gathered in Allahabad to brainstorm the strategy for UP polls and was attended by PM Modi, Shah and other senior leaders of the BJP.

On the other hand, Ghulam Nabi Azad, the new Congress general secretary in-charge of UP, yesterday had favoured Priyanka Gandhi Vadra campaigning outside Amethi and Rae Bareli for the state Assembly elections.

"I do hope that she will definitely campaign in some other places as per time available to her," he told reporters, as per PTI.

Earlier, he had said that Congress would project a chief ministerial candidate.

In Uttar Pradesh, Congress had secured just two seats in the last Lok Sabha elections with party president Sonia Gandhi and VP Rahul Gandhi emerging victorious from their traditional seats of Rae Bareli and Amethi respectively.

The Congress is in political wilderness in Uttar Pradesh since 1989 following emergence of divisive 'mandal-mandir' politics and rise of the BSP, which took away its crucial Dalit vote base.

(With Agency inputs)