Zee Media Bureau/Manisha Singh
Varanasi: The holy city of Varanasi is all set for BJP`s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi`s much awaited filing of nomination on Thursday. Modi will undertake a `grand road show` in the city before filing his papers.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is leaving no stones unturned to make sure that the event is a mega success. As per reports, lakhs of people are expected to participate in the two km long road show from Nadesar to Kacheri locality.
As per PTI reports, though all sections of people have been invited for the road show, the BJP has specifically requested the citizens from Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, residing here, to come in their traditional attire. "They have been requested to come in their traditional attire so that a mini-India can be presented in the road show," said Navratan Rathi, a BJP leader who is coordinating arrangements.
Modi is scheduled to arrive at Lal Bahadur Shastri airport tomorrow morning. From the airport he is to go to Benaras Hindu University (BHU) campus by helicopter where he will pay tribute to Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya`s statue at the Lanka crossing.
From there he is scheduled to proceed to go to Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, where he will garland the statute of Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel. After this he will start his road show.
According to Rathi, Modi will also pay tribute to Vivekanada and Amebdkar at their statues in the Cantonment area and Collectorate Square respectively. Another function has been organised where the Gujarat Chief Minister will be offered blessings by over 100 priests.
It is also being said that around 1,000 prominent people from Muslim community have been invited to the road show. The constituency has around 1.5 lakh Muslim voters.
Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal who is challenging Modi in Varanasi filed his nomination today. The Congress has fielded Ajay Rai from the constituency which has become one of the most happening and keenly watched seats.
Rai, a Varanasi local, is an MLA from Pindra Assembly constituency. On the other hand the Samajwadi Party has fielded Kailash Chaurasiya, a sitting MLA from nearby Mirzapur. Both Rai and Chaurasiya have already filed their nominations.
Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi had won the seat in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. He had defeated Mukhtar Ansari by a margin of 17,000 votes. This time around Joshi is contesting from Kanpur.
Ansari is not contesting this time, reportedly "to avoid division of secular votes".
Thursday is the last day of filing of nomination for Varanasi constituency. Elections will be held here on May 12 in the last phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
The counting of votes is scheduled for May 16.
The BJP is hoping that the so-called `Modi-wave` sweeping large parts of the country will help them come back to power at the Centre after a decade. The Gujarat CM is also leading the popularity charts as far as PM candidates are concerned vis-à-vis Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal.
Most of the opinion polls have predicted that the BJP would emerge as the single largest party in the General Elections and the Congress will end up with its worst ever tally.
Ten years of anti-incumbency and charges of scams, corruption, policy paralysis, inflation and price rise have resulted in a perceived denting of image of the Congress party.
On the other hand Modi has been exhorting the people to give him a chance to set things right and has been talking about development and growth as the need of the hour.
With PTI inputs
