BHU founder Madan Mohan Malviya`s grandson among Narendra Modi`s proposer in Varanasi

While late shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan`s family has refused to take sides in the electoral battle here, freedom fighter and Congress leader Madan Mohan Malviya`s grandson Giridhar Malviya will be one of the proposer of BJP`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Zee Media Bureau/Ritesh K Srivastava

Varanasi: While late shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan`s family has refused to take sides in the electoral battle here, freedom fighter and Congress leader Madan Mohan Malviya`s grandson Giridhar Malviya has agreed to be one of the proposer of BJP`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the holy city. Former justice Giridhar Malviya will be one among those who will sign Modi`s nomination form on April 24 - the day when the BJP leader will file his nomination papers to contest from Varanasi. "I have agreed to be the proposer for Narendra Modi. I believe Modi will take the nation forward with his principles, uniting everyone," Malviya, the grandson of Benaras Hindu University founder Madan Mohan Malviya, told reporters. Development came even as late Bismillah Khan`s family refused to take sides in Varanasi`s electoral politics. Reports suggested that Khan`s family members were approached by the Bharatiya Janata Party to support party`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in his bid to wrest the east Uttar Pradesh seat, but they turned down the request. Bismillah Khan`s son Zamin Husain Bismillah was quoted as saying that their`s was a family of artists who had never indulged in political acts and refused to take sides in the hotly contested constituency. Some BJP workers had floated the idea that Bismillah Khan`s kin be a proposer for Modi when he files the nomination from Varanasi on April 24, reports said. Bismillah Khan`s son Zamin Hussain Bismillah said that he wants to keep the family away from politics.