About a month ago, stalwarts of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) led by Mohan Bhagwat met in Varanasi to discuss the 2014 election strategy for eastern Uttar Pradesh.
While the demand by the local RSS and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders for Narendra Modi to contest from Varanasi was overwhelming, not many were under the illusion that the present MP Murli Manohar Joshi would agree to shift his seat elsewhere.
A couple of days later, Joshi not only opened an election office in Varanasi, but his followers started distributing a booklet highlighting his contributions towards developing Varanasi. The booklet mentioned how Joshi had contributed towards various civil works including roads, drains and water supply. Clearly, he is in no mood to oblige the Sangh and is going ahead with his campaign to retain this seat.
Joshi is no mood to give way to Modi: PTI
His desire to contest the coming Lok Sabha election from Varanasi has caused a ripple in the Sangh's election strategy. Not only has he made it an issue related to his prestige and stature, his followers have started using it as an example of how Modi and his managers are bent upon 'humiliating' a veteran like Joshi after doing the same to Lal Krishna Advani.
Joshi was elected to Lok Sabha thrice from 1996 from Allahabad, but was defeated from there in 2004. He shifted to Varanasi in 2009 and he won the seat by defeating Mukhtar Ansari of the Bahujan Samaj Party by a margin of about 18,000 votes in what had eventually turned out to be a communally polarized election.
For the last several months there have been reports that Modi may contest from Varanasi, Lucknow or Kanpur, and that Joshi may be shifted elsewhere or nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
Once an important member of the BJP trio comprising Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani, Joshi is known to be a reserved person, preferring to keep to himself and avoid the media. Though he commands wide respect in Varanasi, he does not venture out often, saying he is not a 'corporator' to talk about the city's pathetic civic condition, says a senior Varanasi journalist.
However, Prof OP Singh, Director of the Mahamana Madan Mohan Malaviya Institute of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith, says Joshi's association with Varanasi has helped the BJP in consolidating its position there. He said that under Joshi, not only did the BJP add one more Assembly seat in 2012 to its earlier tally, the party also won the Mayoral election by a comfortable majority.
"Dr Joshi represents the traditional think tank of the BJP and the party's loyal supporters want him to contest from here. Besides, Narendra Modi can win from wherever in India he wishes to contest. So why choose Varanasi and unsettle a veteran from a seat?", he asked.
Other Joshi supporters are also confident that Joshi will win the Varanasi seat by a huge margin.
But another veteran resident of Varanasi, Dr Manoj Srivastava, a senior physician also associated with local unit of India Medical Association (IMA), says although Joshi has a high profile, he won the Varanasi seat "only because it is traditionally a BJP seat."
In his opinion, Joshi may not wish to shift from here because he could not be sure of victory from anywhere else in the state. "People voted for him not out of choice but because they wanted the BJP to win, and this time also, he may win from here only for this reason."
Incidentally, the Kaumi Ekta Dal, floated by former MP Afzal Ansari has already announced the candidature of Afsa Begum from Varanasi. Afzal Ansari is brother of jailed MLA Mukhtar Ansari, who is facing a number of criminal cases including that of murder and extortion. His brother Sigbatullah Ansari is also a legislator.
In Lucknow, state BJP spokesman Vijay Pathak said that although the party was likely to announce names of some contestants on 27 February, all the veterans may not figure on that list. His cryptic reply to a pointed question was: "As far as Varanasi is concerned, we already have a big name representing the seat. So, it will either be him again, or if there is to be change at all, it will have to be a bigger name than him."
The 'trump card' names, as he put it, will be announced only towards the end.
A source in the RSS said that at a meeting in Lucknow recently, the issue was indeed discussed and leaders from Varanasi again requested that Modi be asked to contest from Varanasi.
It was highlighted that people from all communities – including Muslims – were in favour of Modi as a candidate from Varanasi. Modi, in the opinion of RSS sources, is the choice of not only the youth and the traditional BJP supporters, but also of the entire spectrum of OBC voters who are excited at the possibility at one of their own making it to the top post.
Unmoved by the closed door deliberations, Joshi's election office in Varanasi continues with the propagation of his contributions to the city, even as the local newspapers keep discussing the guessing game over his candidature.
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