Congress names Ajay Rai as challenger to Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal in Varanasi

Zee Media Bureau/Ajith Vijay Kumar

New Delhi: After days of uncertainty, the Congress on Tuesday announced local MLA Ajay Rai as its candidate in Varanasi for the Lok Sabha polls 2014.

Varanasi turned into a high profile consistency after BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi chose the seat to contest from Uttar Pradesh. Modi is also in the fray from Vadodara in Gujarat. The Varanasi tussle gained more prominence after Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal announced himself as a challenger to the Modi juggernaut.

The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have already announced their candidates. Interestingly, the Congress` announcement comes amid suggestions that discussions are on between different parties to present a unified challenge to Modi to prevent division of votes against Modi.

However, as no party would want to appear as unwilling to challenge Modi, all parties have announce candidates but as it happens in elections, they may work behind the scenes to ensure that Modi`s wish to win from the city of Lord Vishwanath remains unfulfilled.