SULTANPUR, Uttar Pradesh — Varun Gandhi, the estranged cousin of Congress party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who is also the general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) on Tuesday filed his nomination papers from Sultanpur parliamentary constituency , which is close to the Nehru-Gandhi bastions of Rae Bareli and Amethi, after holding a massive roadshow here. Party workers showered 34-year-old Varun with flower petals and greeted him with beating of drums as he led a huge procession of supporters toward the district administration office to file his papers. Varun, who represented Pilibhit parliamentary constituency in 2009 has shifted to Sultanpur this time where he is locked in a quadrangular contest with Sultanpur MP Sanjay Singh’s wife Amita Singh (Congress), Shakeel Ahmed (SP) and Pawan Pandey (BSP). His mother Maneka Gandhi is contesting election from Pilibhit on a BJP ticket. Meanwhile, the verbal battle between the Gandhi cousins — Varun and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the daughter Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, intensified with both of them making fresh attacks on each other on Tuesday. Responding to Varun’s remark, Priyanka called it an “ideological war” with her cousin as she also accused him of betraying her family. “This is not a family tea party, this is an ideological war... It is a betrayal with my family,” Priyanka said when asked about Varun’s latest statement that he gave after filing his nomination as a BJP candidate from Sultanpur. “My father died for the unity of this country,” Priyanka said. Earlier, Varun hit back at Priyanka, alleging that she had crossed the “Lakshman Rekha of decency” with her remarks that he has gone “astray” and said that his “decency and large-heartedness” should not be construed as a weakness by anyone. Priyanka had attacked Varun in her speech in Amethi last week and suggested that he should be defeated and shown the right path. — Agencies