Murli Manohar Joshi gives berth pangs to Narendra Modi

Varanasi: With Murli Manohar Joshi reluctant to vacate the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, the issue of BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi contesting from Uttar Pradesh is still unclear. Though there seems to be a trend emerging in favour of Mr Joshi in Allahabad constituency, the old saffron warhorse appears unwilling to return to his old seat.

After winning three consecutive elections from Allahabad, Mr Joshi lost the seat to the Samajwadi Party in 2004. Sources said if Mr Joshi refuses to vacate Varanasi, Mr Modi is not likely to contest from Uttar Pradesh. Efforts are, therefore, still on to persuade Mr Joshi to shift to Allahabad. The Modi camp feels that if he is to contest from UP, Varanasi “must be the city”. It being the city of Hindu pilgrimage would be symbolic of Mr Modi’s Hindutva image. Though the Gujarat Chief Minister has been hardselling himself as a “man of development,” his hardcore Hindutva image remains an “attraction for Hindu voters in communally divided eastern UP,” a BJP leader said. The apparent shift of a large section of Yadavs and a number of Dalits towards Mr Modi seems to be an outburst against Muslim appeasement by other secular political outfits. With caste continuing to dictate UP’s politics, the BJP is trying to hardsell Mr Modi’s OBC status to counter the influence of BSP supremo Mayawati.

Eastern UP being the toughest electoral terrain for the BJP in the state, the saffron forces are going all out to project Mr Modi as a blend of “progressive Hindu backward PM.” And while there seems to be a demand for Mr Modi in Allahabad too, some saffron leaders feel he will not be willing to contest from that particular Lok Sabha berth. As the debate rages on whether Mr Modi will contest from UP or Gujarat, the delay in declaring its candidates has made local leaders in the area somewhat restless. BJP national executive member Siddharth Nath Singh,  has been campaigning in the Phulpur Lok Sabha berth for the past few months. Siddharth, grandson of Lal Bahadur Shastri, is touring this constituency extensively and holding a seies of public meetings. Mr Singh, a Kayasth, seems confident of winning the seat from the BSP if he is given the ticket.