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PM Narendra Modi files his nomination from the Holy City of Varanasi, top NDA leaders join him in a show of strength

Shashank Bharadwaj
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PM Narendra Modi files his nomination from the Holy City of Varanasi, top NDA leaders join him in a show of strength

In a show of strength ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, top leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and North East Democratic Alliance alliance (NEDA) joined Prime Minister Modi as he filed his nomination from the holy city of Varanasi on Friday.

According to the reports, Prime Minister Modi arrived at the collectorate office in Varanasi to file his nomination ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He was welcomed by BJP president Amit Shah and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh.


Former Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Chief Parkash Singh Badal, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief Nitish Kumar, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) head Ram Vilas Paswan, leaders of the AIADMK, Asom Gana Parishad, Apna Dal and Shiv Sena Chief Udhav Thackrey were all present at the collectorate office in Varanasi as PM Modi filed his nominations. 

The Prime Minister greeted all the NDA leaders who have arrived at Varanasi and also sought the blessing of Akali leader Parkash Singh Badal by touching his feet.

Apart from NDA leaders, senior BJP leaders like party president Amit Shah, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, senior leaders Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, JP Nadda also joined Prime Minister Modi.

A member of the Dom Raja family, which helps perform the last rites at Varanasi’s Manikarnika Ghat, a veteran BJP leader, a chowkidar and the principal of a women’s college was the proposers for PM Modi. Panini Kanya Mahavidyalaya principal Nandita Shastri Chaturvedi is also among five people who will be proposing Prime Minister’s name.

The elections in Varanasi will be held in the seventh and final phase of polling for the Lok Sabha election 2019 on May 19.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a 20-party coalition is fighting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Legal complaint filed against photoshop artist day after PM Modi and Akshay Kumar appreciated his work

OpIndia Staff
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Legal complaint filed against photoshop artist day after PM Modi and Akshay Kumar appreciated his work

Actor Akshay Kumar recently had a free-wheeling and apolitical chat with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that showed the PM in a different light. During the interview, Kumar asked the PM if he spent time on Social Media and enjoyed the several memes that float around. In the process, Akshay Kumar showed PM some memes, and one of the memes happened to be by photoshop artist who goes by the Twitter handle @Atheist_Krishna. Krishna even got a personal video message of appreciation from Akshay Kumar himself. A day after the PM himself appreciated Krishna’s work, a legal complaint has been filed against the photoshop artist.

Krishna today took to Twitter to attack a screenshot of an email he received from Twitter India about a legal complaint filed in India concerning one of his tweets.


He tweeted, “Really shocked to see that some frustrated people who have lost their sense of humor and the ability to understand sarcasm can stoop so low. If you all think I have done nothing wrong intentionally ever then need all your support”.

The attached email said that Twitter India has received a legal complaint regarding one of his tweets alleging that the tweet violates Indian laws. Twitter India in the email also said that this was just to notify Krishna and that they are taking no action against the content as of now.

OpIndia has learnt that the tweet against which a legal complaint has been filed is one where after the Balakot airstrikes, Krishna had photoshopped some opposition leaders visiting Imran Khan and General Bajwa seeking ‘proof’ of the strikes.


As evident, Krishna’s tweet was political satire mocking the political leaders who were asking for proof of the Balakot airstrikes against Pakistan’s terror camps.

However, as humour and sarcasm are the first victims to fall to political vindictiveness, so too Krishna’s tweet seems to have drawn the ire of some petty political stooge who cannot take satire on the leaders he admires.

It is pertinent to note here that suspended babu AC Joshi had ‘raised concerns’ and tagged the police to this tweet by Krishna.


He accused Krishna of spreading fake news that disturbs the harmony and said that he had informed ‘Raghuvir’ of cyber cell. Possibly, the only reason he referred to ‘Raghuvir’ unceremoniously is to prove that despite being accused of being involved in ‘blanket-tea scam’ and being suspended for using official letterhead to threaten a politician in his personal capacity, he has contacts in the police department.

The suspended Uttarakhand based SAG officer Ashish Joshi has been running loose on Twitter calling random people ‘terrorists’ and threatening criminal action against them.


He had strangely called Krishna a “Hindutva Social Media Terrorist”. This a term the suspended babu accused in a scam uses for anyone he doesn’t agree with politically.

West Bengal: Missing election official in charge of EVMs found in Howrah after a week

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: Missing election official in charge of EVMs found in Howrah after a week

A nodal officer of the Election Commission who had gone missing from Krishnagar, seven days ago, has been reportedly found in a house in Howrah by the West Bengal CID.

According to reports, Arnab Roy, who had gone missing from a polling station during the second phase of Lok Sabha elections was found by the police after tracking the location of his mobile phone.

“We have found Mr. Roy from a house in Howrah this morning. He is fine,” the CID officer informed PTI. The circumstances and reasons for his sudden disappearance are yet to be clear.

The CID officer also said that Roy was looking tired. When asked whether officer Roy was abducted or was he hiding on his own, the officer said, “We will talk to him to find out what actually happened.”

The 30-year old election officer Arnab Roy had gone suspiciously missing from duty on April 18th from Bipradas Choudhury Polytechnic College of Nadia, West Bengal. Interestingly, Roy was the in charge of the EVMs and VVPATs.

As West Bengal has seen numerous cases of political violence and poll malpractice, the sudden disappearance of an on-duty election official had caused wide speculations and concerns in the media.

Anisha Jash, wife of the missing officer Arnab Roy had also appealed to every citizen to find her husband. “I do not want anything except my husband right now and I shall go to the last extent to find him. I earnestly request everyone to share my post. I want my husband back,” wrote Anisha Jash in her Facebook post.

Gujarat Congress’ official Twitter handle uses an image from Congress era to criticise Modi govt’s Ganga cleaning project

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat Congress’ official Twitter handle uses an image from Congress era to criticise Modi govt’s Ganga cleaning project

Congress has begun to become synonymous with lies and forgery. Not only its leaders keep blatantly repeating their worn out lies, but even their social media handles have also been caught a number of times trying to spread fake news and misinformation.

In another such incident, the official handle of Gujarat Congress was seen using an older image to criticise the NDA government’s Ganga cleaning project.

via Twitter

In the tweet shared by the Gujarat Congress’ official handle, they have shared an image where on one side there is an image of a clean ghat of Ganga, saying “This is the image BJP shows in its campaigns”. On the other side, there is an image of a dirty riverbank with piles of garbage, with the caption “This is the truth of Ganga BJP doesn’t show in its ads”.

However, the image of the dirty riverbank with heaps of garbage is a much older one, probably one from the UPA era.

Twitter user Ankur Singh caught the lie being spread by Congress.


As pointed out by Ankur, the image was used in a website called indiawaterportal.org for an article on the Ganga Action plan. The article is dated 10.04.2014, clearly indicating that the image of a dirty river bank must have been older, from a pre-NDA government time.

 Congress’ IT cell had recently used a sly tactic to make a video where a part of PM Modi’s speech in Gujarat was carefully manipulated to make it sound as if the PM has used an abusive word.

Before that, Congress had made another propaganda video where they have used images from the UPA era to claim the Modi government has ruined the country in 5 years. In the two-minute video where images were shared at a rapid pace, older images were slyly inserted to blame the Modi government.

Using fake images and older images to spread their malicious propaganda is something the Congress has been doing repeatedly. Recently, the Congress Sevadal had used a fake image featuring Smriti Irani to spread lies and sexist comments about the textile minister.

Congress and their ecosystem are also very apt at spreading fake news against their political opponents. Recently, many politicians, lawyers, and Congress friendly journalists were caught spreading fake information claiming that the NIA judge who had acquitted Swami Aseemanand in the Mecca Masjid blast case, has joined the BJP. The claim was proven to be false as ironically, the image they had shared claiming t be the judge, was Congress’ own former Chhattisgarh working president Ram Dayal Uike, joining the BJP.

‘Mea culpa’: Rajdeep Sardesai finally admits Modi wasn’t responsible for 2002 and that media sensationalised the riots

OpIndia Staff
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‘Mea culpa’: Rajdeep Sardesai finally admits Modi wasn’t responsible for 2002 and that media sensationalised the riots

In an interview with author-journalist Manu Joseph, Rajdeep Sardesai, the Michelangelo of Indian journalism, who made a career out of demonising Narendra Modi for Gujarat riots seems to have finally found some remorse for his relentless campaign against Prime Minister Modi for the unfortunate incidents that followed after the train burning at Godhra that left Hindus dead.

Responding to a question asking whether Narendra Modi the then Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2002 was in any way responsible for the incident, Rajdeep Sardesai admitted that he personally believed that Modi was not responsible for the 2002 riots that followed after Godhra massacre.

“It is unfair of us to say that Mr Modi or anyone was responsible for the riots. He did not ask or incite violence,” said Rajdeep Sardesai.

However, Rajdeep Sardesai claimed that Chief Minister Modi was somewhat complacent as he did not try stopping riots. He maintained that Modi was not in control of the state as he had just come to power in 2002 while VHP leader Praveen Thogadia had the real control.

According to Rajdeep Sardesai, Modi was not as powerful as people thought and he backed off during the 2002 riots by ceding space to Praveen Thogadia. However, Rajdeep went on to assume that there is always some political capital in violence, subtly hinting that Narendra Modi politically benefitted from the 2002 incident.

Expressing regret over the reporting of riots in the media, Rajdeep Sardesai confessed that Gujarat riots were sensationalised by the media. Rajdeep went on to add that there is a need for self-censorship while reporting sensitive incidents like riots. Rajdeep finally agreed to the fact that media was indeed “mea culpa” for magnifying the intensity of riots.

While this revelation by Rajdeep comes now, up until recently, Rajdeep has been saying that Modi and BJP have “blood on their hands” and has compared the 1984 Sikh Genocide where Congress leaders were directly involved and Rajiv Gandhi himself had incited violence by making the ‘when a big tree falls’ speech to 2002, where he now admits that Modi had no role and the courts have also given him a clean chit.

While Rajdeep now admits Modi was not involved, even in 2018, he was asking for BJP to apologise for 2002.

And this, in 2012.

One is bound to wonder then that if Rajdeep agrees now that Modi had no role to play in the riots and that the media sensationalised the riots, was he deliberately fanning the sensationalism further since 2002 up until recently?

As the trends of 2019 Lok Sabha elections suggest that the NDA government is returning back to power, the Congress-backed media ecosystem seems to be subtly hinting at abandoning their old masters in an attempt to find a chance to co-opt with Narendra Modi.

The left-leaning Media and its ‘journalists’ like Rajdeep Sardesai have been openly and pathologically biased against Prime Minister Narendra Modi ever since he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The ecosystem which ran a relentless campaign against PM Modi to demonise him for his ‘alleged’ complacency during the riots has finally realised that their propaganda does not work any more in the age of social media. Hence, there has been an attempt by some section of the Lutyens ecosystem to speak the truth regarding their sustained campaign against PM Modi and the BJP.

Clerics from WB write 10,000 letters, tell Muslims to vote as a block for ‘secular parties’ and keep ‘fascist forces’ out

OpIndia Staff
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Clerics from WB write 10,000 letters, tell Muslims to vote as a block for ‘secular parties’ and keep ‘fascist forces’ out

Imams and clerics of TMC ruled West Bengal under the banner of All India Milli Council have reportedly written 10,000 letters to Muslim voters of West Bengal to vote unitedly as a bloc and choose a ‘secular government’ over ‘communal forces’.

The letters have been sent by the state chapter of All India Milli Council, signed by Qari Fazlur Rahman, the imam who leads Eid namaz at Red Road, the highest conglomeration of Muslims for Eid namaz and Maulana Shafique Qasmi, imam of Nakhoda Masjid. While Rahman is the president of the council’s Bengal chapter, Qasmi is the vice-president.

The letters urge Muslim voters in West Bengal to “not make a mistake” in 2019. It also urges Muslim voters to not let their votes get divided and vote for a candidate of “secular parties” who has the highest chance of winning from their constituency. They urge Muslim voters to not let their votes divide lest it benefits “fascist forces”.

“We’ve appealed to Muslims to use the opportunity carefully so that no communal force in the country can raise its head and a secular force is voted to power,” Rahman told DNA

Talking to DNA, when asked about who among the “secular parties” should Muslims choose in West Bengal, the Imam said that in West Bengal, it is the ruling TMC party that has the maximum chance of winning and so, Muslims should not split their vote by voting for other ‘secular’ parties that don’t have a chance as this would help ‘fascist forces’.

Reportedly, the Mili Council is writing such letters in all states urging Muslims to vote en masse for “secular” forces. They are also using sermons and meetings to drill the point across to the Muslim electorate.

“Last time we saw how the division of Muslim votes helped fascist forces come to power. We are asking Muslims not to waste their vote and make it count. Fascist forces are damaging the secular structure of the country, where Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians live side by side”, Imam said speaking to Indian Express.

While the letter itself does not mention any political party, in the comment made to DNA and otherwise, it is evident that Mili Council in West Bengal is batting for “secular” TMC against “communal” BJP.

The Imams of West Bengal have always issued ridiculous statements. In 2017, Shahi Imam of West Bengal had offered a reward to anyone who would shave PM Modi’s head and beard.

BJP is like Ramleela’s Sita, who smokes behind the screen: RLSP supremo Upendra Kushwaha

OpIndia Staff
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BJP is like Ramleela’s Sita, who smokes behind the screen: RLSP supremo Upendra Kushwaha

Disgruntled NDA leader who recently switched sides to join the opposition rank passed a contentious remark by equating the BJP with Ramleela’s Sita. RLSP supremo Kushwaha Upendra Kushwaha drew an insulting parallel to compare the BJP with Sita by asserting that Ramleela’s Sita smokes behind the screen.

It is pertinent to mention that Sita is revered by millions of Hindus living in India and across the globe. His statement is thus nauseating and hurtful to the religious sentiments of practising Hindus.


RLSP chief Kushwaha was in Darbhanga to address a public gathering. During this gathering, he equated BJP with Ramleela’s Sita and said, “When a curtain is raised in Ramleela one person readies herself as Sita. Behind the curtain, you see that Sita ji smoking cigarettes. This is the face of BJP.”

“They are all corrupt inside. I have seen them all but on the outside, they feign a semblance of a god. They put the godly face in front people but I have seen the face with the cigarette when I was in the NDA,” he divulged.

Kushwaha also targeted Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and claimed they can go to any extent to retain power. He alleged that there is no medicine for children, neither for the youth nor for the sick. Attacking further he said there are no provision for medicines either.

He asserted that the opposition, of which he is a part now, would fight the elections on these issues. He also advocated the participation of backwards and dalits in the judiciary.

Kushwaha was miffed over seat-sharing for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections and quit the NDA in December 2018 only to join hands with the opposition.

‘Tumhari beti ko kaat ke fenk doonga,’ Ola driver Md. Azhardeen snaps at the father of the passenger after an argument over payment

OpIndia Staff
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‘Tumhari beti ko kaat ke fenk doonga,’ Ola driver Md. Azhardeen snaps at the father of the passenger after an argument over payment

Rude and obnoxious behaviour is becoming synonymous with Ola and Uber drivers as more and more incidents of intolerance is being reported every now and then.

According to a report by India Today, 22-year-old Arjita Banerjee, an engineer from Bengaluru, was harassed by the cab driver named Md, Azhardeen, after an argument over payment. She was riding back to her paying guest accommodation in an Ola share cab,

The driver allegedly told the victim: “Mai tereko kahin chod doonga. Tereko kaat daloonga” (I will leave you somewhere, chop you into pieces and throw you, recounted Arjita.

Moreover, Azhardeen threatened the victim’s father, who had apparently booked the cab for his daughter, by saying, “Tumhari beti ko kaat ke fenk doonga (I will chop your daughter into pieces and throw her away).

Arjita recounting the incident said the ordeal began when on Monday when her father, who is in Kolkata, booked an Ola share cab for her to her paying guest accommodation in Nagawara, which is about 20 km away from Koramangala, where she had gone to visit her sister over the weekend.

After the cab was booked, she called the driver and asked him to call on her number when he reaches the pick-up location. He allegedly responded by saying, ‘you can call me on my number anytime madam’. The suggestive response from the driver made Arjita uncomfortable, but since she was getting late for work, she decided not to cancel her booking with the particular cab driver.

Moreover, she said that she went ahead with the ride because she thought it was safe as there were other riders in the cab and it was morning time.

Arijita said that after she sat in the car, the cab driver drove at a speed of 10 km/hr. She and the other riders resented and asked him to speed up. The cab driver, Mohammed Azhardeen, irked by this, started driving the cab rashly above speed limit. Soon, after the co-passengers got dropped off, the driver started making small talks with Arijita. This made her further uncomfortable.

However, once she reached her destination the driver asked her to pay Rs 200 cab fare. On being reminded that her father had already paid the driver Rs 130 through Ola money and the rest of the fare was paid at the time of booking, Md. Azhardeen got infuriated and started hurling abuses at the victim.

He refused to release the central locking system of his car, because of which Arijita was stuck in the cab for a while. He snatched her phone and told her father, who was on a call with her at that moment, that he will go and drop her (Arijita) somewhere, implying he will leave her stranded at some other place, recollected Arijita.

“I was really scared. He started telling my father, “Tumhari beti ko kaat ke fenk doonga (I will chop your daughter into pieces and throw her away), just tell her to pay me Rs 130.”

Arijita alleged that when she asked for her phone back, he refused to return it. She said that she sought help from people nearby, but no one came forward to help her. Finally, she paid him Rs 500 to get her phone back.

“Before leaving, I told him that I will ensure he doesn’t drive again. He then threatened me saying, I know where you live. I won’t leave you. Till I went in, he kept staring at my PG. I am now shifting from here”, said the victim.

Arijita filed an FIR at Halli Police Station in Banaswadi later in that evening. The accused was arrested and presented before the magistrate.

Meanwhile, Arijita’s father Subhendu Banerjee said that he called Ola’s security department to report the incident. Ola initially responded by saying that they would send the driver back to training and won’t let him drive Ola cabs till he passes the training. Few days later, an Ola representative called Subhendu Banerjee to inform that the driver has been suspended and the company is cooperating with the police Bengaluru police has confirmed that the drive is in jail at present and his vehicle is also has been seized.

However, this is not the first time incidents like these have been reported against online transportation network companies like Uber and Ola.

Recently, we had reported how a lady with the Twitter handle @sona2905 was subjected to rude and offensive behaviour of an Uber driver, Usman, who got aggressive on seeing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s picture on her phone cover. He started off with refusing to turn on the air conditioner in the Uber and even told her to ‘ask Modi to send her a cab’.

In yet another shocking incident from Mumbai, an Uber driver Aftab allegedly got angry when he saw the Shivaji Mandir, a theatre in Mumbai and started abusing Chhatrapati Shivaji, the warrior king who once fought the Mughals. Twitter user Samiir said that when he was passing by the Shivaji Mandir near Plaza Cinema in Mumbai, the uber driver Aftab started abusing Shivaji Maharaj and said, “Teri maa ka bh*s**”.

With more and more incidents of such intolerance coming into the forefront, the safety and well being of our near and dear ones, using Ola and Uber as a frequent mode of communication, is becoming an honest cause of concern.

Kerala records highest voting turnout in 30 years, all parties hopeful for victory

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala records highest voting turnout in 30 years, all parties hopeful for victory

After the conclusion of voting in all 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala on the third phase on 23rd April, the state has recorded its highest ever voter turnout in 30 years. The Congress and the Left who have dominated the politics in Kerala, both have claimed of having an edge over each other. The BJP, on the other hand, is hopeful that the high turnout would let them make inroads into the State’s politics.

Kerala had registered a voter turnout of 77.68% this year, compared to 74.02% in 2014 and 73.37% in 2009. This is the highest turnout in 30 years after a 79.03% turnout in 1989. Eight constituencies out of 20 recorded more than 80% polling for the first time.

Kannur had the highest voter turnout of 83.05%, the lowest was in Thiruvananthapuram at 73.45% where Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is hoping to get elected for the third time and faces tough competition from both the Left and the BJP. The Wayanad constituency where Rahul Gandhi is contesting recorded its highest turnout with 80.31%.

Congress believes that the presence of Rahul Gandhi has given them an edge over the others. Congress leader A K Antony was quoted saying “The UDF is inching towards a grand victory. Rahul Gandhi’s candidature had ripple effect in all 20 constituencies of the state. High polling is a natural reply to CM Pinarayi’s adamant posture on many issues”.

The BJP, on the other hand, has its hope high due to the Sabarimala issue. The manner in which the Left had handled the situation and the consequent protests have made the BJP a tough competitor in Kerala especially in the districts of Thiruvananthapuram and Pathanamthitta. BJP State president P S Sreedharan Pillai has said that the NDA is hopeful for a favourable outcome and is expecting to win a couple of seats.

The CPI(M) led LDF is also hopeful in winning a considerable amount of seats claiming that the party in power had run a secular government. “High polling shows people support the renaissance movement being initiated by the government. We are sure the performance of 2004 when LDF swept the poll, will be repeated in 2019,” said CPI (M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

Political analysts and Kerala University assistant professor C A Josukutty says that the increased voter turnout may be due to anti-incumbency or even the highly emotive issue of women’s entry in Sabarimala.

PM Modi arrives in Varanasi to a grand ‘saffron’ welcome with a sea of people turning up for his roadshow

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi arrives in Varanasi to a grand ‘saffron’ welcome with a sea of people turning up for his roadshow

A day before he files his nomination for the ongoing elections from Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given a grand ‘saffron’ welcome in the temple city. A sea of people has assembled along the 6-km route for his mega roadshow. PM Modi headed straight to BHU from Banda, after addressing an election rally in the city.

The roadshow is all set to end at Dashashwamedh ghat and preparations are in full swing to ready it for the PM’s arrival. He is set to participate in the famous ‘Ganga aarti’ at the ghat to conclude his massive road show.

PM Modi road show in Varanasi ahead of filing nomination

At BHU, Modi garlanded the statue of Madan Mohan Malviya outside the main entrance of the university to kick start his roadshow.

PM Modi road show in Varanasi ahead of filing nomination

People across ages have converged on the streets to welcome their beloved leader.

PM Modi road show in Varanasi ahead of filing nomination

The entire city has been ‘Modified’ this evening with chants of ‘Modi, Modi,’ reverberating all along.

PM Modi road show in Varanasi ahead of filing nomination

PM Modi road show in Varanasi ahead of filing nomination

PM Modi road show in Varanasi ahead of filing nomination

PM Modi road show in Varanasi ahead of filing nomination (image: ANI’s Smita Prakash)

The Dashashwamegh Ghat in Varanasi was decorated for the Ganga Aarti the PM participated in.

Dashashwamegh Ghat lit up for Ganga Aarti (image: Smita Prakash on Twitter)

The roadshow witnessed a huge turnout and can be read a symbol of PM’s insurmountable popularity among the people of his constituency. He is the sitting Member Parliament from Varanasi and will file his nomination for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections on Friday, April 26.

According to a press release issued by the BJP, top leaders from alliance parties including Akali Dal’s senior leader and former Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal, Bihar Chief Minister and JDU chief Nitish Kumar, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan will mark their presence during his nomination filing process.

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