New Delhi, Apr 8: The Congress is likely to announce its candidate for Varanasi Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday, amid strong indications that Ajay Rai may get the party nod to take on Narendra Modi.
Rai is Congress MLA from Pindra near Varanasi and belongs to Bhumihar community. Former party MP from Varanasi, Rajesh Mishra, is the second name on the second name on what the party circles called the "final" short list.
The decision on the legislator shows that the party has not found any big name to cross sword with the BJP's prime ministerial candidate who seems the favourite in the eastern UP seat.
The constituency is thus set for a contest between Modi, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Rai besides the nominees of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.
Varanasi, a seat of Hindu pilgrimage and nerve centre of the volatile eastern UP politics, has become the focus of elections because of Modi's decision to contest here as his second constituency besides Vadodara in Gujarat. He reckons that his presence here would shore up BJP's chances in eastern UP region that has 32 Lok Sabha seats on offer.
While Kejriwal latched on Modi's announcement to stake his claim there, Congress has been hamstrung by the absence of a personality to take on the formidable saffron rival. It is after long brainstorming that the Congress has finalized its local candidate who was anyway the front-runner in its ranks to take on Modi.
While there has been a lot of talk about a common candidate of the "secular" front being fielded in Varanasi, it has not materialised because none of the parties would want to be seen as ceding space against Modi and instead would want to present itself as the principal voice against the Hindutva mascot.
This would end the biggest mystery in the Varanasi battle. The Congress delay in announcing the candidate had triggered speculation that the party could be looking for a "big" name like Karan Singh who was sent to contest against Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Lucknow.
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