Varanasi: Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal will file nomination on Wednesday for the high-profile electoral contest in this historic temple town in which the former Delhi Chief Minister will face stiff challenge from BJP’s Prime Ministerial nominee Narendra Modi.
Last month, Kejriwal had announced that he will contest from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat after BJP’s decision to field Modi from the city, considered one of the most prestigious constituencies in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh.
45-year-old Kejriwal, who had led his fledging AAP to a spectacular victory in the Delhi Assembly polls in December last year, has been trying to replicate the successful Delhi campaign model here by holding scores of road shows and corner meetings across Varanasi.
Hundreds of AAP volunteers are also visiting door-to-door to garner support from people in this holy city where BJP has been running an aggressive campaign to consolidate its vote bank.
In 2009 Lok Sabha election, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi had won the seat defeating gangster-cum- politician Mukhtar Ansari by a margin of 17,000 votes.
Quami Ekta Dal’s Ansari, who is known to have a strong support base among Muslims, has decided not to contest against Modi from the seat.
Congress has fielded Ajay Rai, a Varanasi local, who is an MLA from Pindra assembly constituency. Samajwadi Party candidate Kailash Chaurasiya is also a sitting MLA from nearby Mirzapur. (PTI)
