It is, therefore, natural that when the BJP decided to field him as their candidate from Philibit, the constituency once the stronghold of his mother Maneka, the young man got an opportunity to show that he wanted to be counted as a force to reckon with. He seized the golden opportunity but landed up in a  big mess by his own actions. He wanted to prove his credentials of being one with the thoughts and philosophies of the BJP – sit comfortably on the plank of Hindutva. He tried to do too many things at the same time.

His party is embarrassed, so are his well wishers – he has obviously bitten off more than he can chew. And then his justification, his denials make for still more pathetic conditions. Once he says that the CD is tempered that it is not his voice – the next moment he says that one very important word is missing from the version of the CD in circulation. He has discovered an unlikely ally in the Shiv Sena who has hailed his utterances. But to say that Varun is literally out on a limb would be the greatest understatement of the day. He has approached the Courts to seek anticipatory bail fearing arrest.

He should take a leaf or two out of the books of the seniors – like Shatrughan Sinha, who got himself photographed with Amar Singh to ring alarm bells in the BJP camp. The result was instantaneous - he got the constituency of Patna that he wanted and that his party did not want to give him. That is blackmail or is it arm twisting!

Alongside was Uma Bharati – a onetime strong critic of LK Advani, she has changed her outlook totally and has said that she would campaign for Advani because she wants to see him in the chair of the Prime Minister.

And then there was the stand-off between Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley. The matter ended with Arun going to Rajnath’s house to resolve the issue. There are rumours that there was arm twisting of different kind here to placate the situation.

Varun has a lot of learning and unlearning on his hands if he has to find a toehold in Indian politics.