JULY 9- BJP will formally announce Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate for 2014 Lok Sabha polls by July end, sources told Headlines Today.
Modi will contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from the temple town of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, party sources said on Tuesday.
The seat is currently held by BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi and it is one of the strongholds of the party in the state, which accounts for 80 seats in the lower house of Parliament.
The BJP has been winning from Varanasi since 1991 barring 2004 when Congress candidate Rajesh Kumar Mishra snatched the seat.
According to sources, Modi, the BJP campaign committee chief, has been boosting his bid for the prime minister’s post by contesting from a prominent seat in UP, which Varanasi is.
The move is seen as a part of the party’s strategy to recapture the lost ground in the most populous state of the country.
The BJP has benefited in the past by propagating its Hindutva ideology in Varanasi and a polarisation of votes in the seat would benefit Modi, if he indeed contests from the city, sources said.
INDIA TODAY
