Varun at the BJP meet in Mumbai on Saturday. (AFP)

Mumbai, Feb. 21: Blood may be thicker than politics, but Varun Gandhi shows no signs of this.

Just a few days after joining the BJP, Varun today beat even the likes of Pramod Mahajan at Sonia-bashing.

In his soft, almost childish voice, Varun made it clear he would take his mother Maneka Gandhi’s fight with Indira Gandhi’s other bahu yet further, adding more fire and a great deal of sarcasm to it.

Here to attend a felicitation for senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde, Varun hijacked the show with a string of barbs at his aunt, who only recently wished him well on his new political career.

“I guess I will make a speech instead of reading it,’’ the BJP’s Gandhi said, alluding to Sonia’s habit of reading from prepared texts.

“Otherwise the public would have said I am a reader and not a leader,’’ Varun said, as party workers broke into laughter.

He went to say that India is for Indians and should be ruled only by them.

Sensing the mood at the gathering, Varun overcame his initial reservations about attacking his aunt — he had recently said Sonia’s foreign origin was not an issue for him. Today, the BJP’s Gandhi said voters should usher in a government “which is of Indians, for Indians and (run) through Indians’’.

Varun’s presence sparked a mad rush to see him and hear what he had to say, stretching the administration and BJP workers to the limit.

One middle-level BJP leader said: “Yeh Gandhi hamare paas hain, toh woh Gandhi kya karenge.’’

But Varun was not done yet. Speaking about Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s achievements, the star of today’s meeting said only the BJP under the Prime Minister’s leadership could provide a stable government and ensure India is respected the world over.

Speaking like a seasoned politician, Varun even questioned minority politics and quipped: “What have those who bank on minority votes given to the minorities apart from hunger and unemployment. The minority community should join the BJP as its leaders have the biggest hearts.’’

Munde, for whom the felicitation was organised, said he expected a lot from Varun and was sure he would fulfil his expectations.

As Varun’s convoy criss-crossed Mumbai’s busy streets a happy party worker showed just how much the Gandhis have a hold over the public when he said: “Ab toh bahut mazaa ayega.’’

Cousins’ contest

Sonia today negated rumours of her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s entry into electoral politics.

Speaking in Allahabad, where she was in the midst of an Uttar Pradesh roadshow, the Congress president said: “There is nothing like that.”

She had been asked if her children would contest the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Sonia refused to take further questions on the issue.