NEW DELHI, Mar 26: It was about a quarter of century ago that any prime ministerial candidate in the country contested from two constituencies, and that happened to be Ms Indira Gandhi.
Now, Mr Narendra Modi is following the suit, adding a new dimension to the Lok Sabha battle 2014. His candidature from Vadodara in Gujarat was only natural as it was this state in which he made a hat-trick after leading the BJP to victory for a third time. However, the decision to chose a second constituency in Varanasi has come as a surprise to all.
Among other candidates, Mr Modi would be facing Aam Admi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal in Varanasi, which has further added to the interest in the battle.
In Vadodara, the Congress has fielded its General Secretary Madhusudan Mistry, also a Gujarati who understands local equations.
Though BJP’s rivals have attributed the decision to contest from two constituencies to Mr Modi’s feeling of ‘insecurity’, the party says Mr Modi has been brought to Varanasi not because his victory from Vadodara was unsure but because his presence in the holy city in Eastern Uttar Pradesh would have an impact on a number of seats in the Poorvanchal and Bihar.
BJP’s other prime ministerial candidate Atal Bihari Vajpayee contested only from one constituency, Lucknow, though he had contested from two seats in the past elections but then he was
not a prime ministerial aspirant.
All other prime ministerial candidates from Nehru to Lal Bahadur Shastri, Morarji Desai, I K Gujral, V P Singh, Chandra Shekhar, Chaudhary Charan Singh have contested from only one constituency.
Ms Gandhi had contested from both her traditional constituency Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and Medak in Andhra Pradesh in 1980 elections, held after the fall Janata Party Government.
Ms Gandhi’s election from Rae Bareli in 1971 was challenged by Mr Raj Narain for violation of electoral practices and he won his plea when the High Court set aside Ms Gandhi’s elections in June paving the way for imposition of emergency on June 25, 1975.
Later, in 1978 Ms Gandhi was fielded from Chickmaglur in a by-election to bring her back to Lok Sabha.
When Ms Gandhi was back as a candidate in Rae Bareli in 1980, the opposition brought in Gwalior Rajmata Ms Vijaya Raje Scindia, who had been thrown into Tihar jail during the emergency, to take on Ms Gandhi.
This led the party to field Ms Gandhi from a second constituency–Medak in Andhra Pradesh too, to ensure her entry in Parliament this time.
She had defeated Mr Jai Pal Reddy, who later joined the Congress.
Though Ms Gandhi was victorious on both the seats, she decided to retain the Medak seat.
It has to be seen which seat Mr Modi chooses to retain if he is elected from both.
The Gujarat people would like him to retain his Vadodara seat, but party strategists might like him to retain the Uttar Pradesh seat.
Uttar Pradesh is the State which has so far given eight Prime Ministers to the country and that is why Mr Modi’s candidature from the State is a well considered move to pave the way for his acceptability in the Hindi heartland which sends the highest number of 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha.
By fielding him from Varanasi, the party wants to dispel the perception that Mr Modi’s charisma was limited only to Gujarat. (UNI)
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