Election:Congress likely to go local against Narendra Modi in Varanasi

New Delhi, March 30:

has been facing several questions as the election is knocking at the door, but one of the most important questions is -- whom the party will field against

and Arvind Kejriwal in

? Now, it seems that party is all set to go local while challenging

's prime ministerial candidate and the AAP leader.

According to sources, Congress is likely to field local leader from Varanasi against the two prominent leaders of opposition. Now, the competition is between Ajay Rai and Rajesh Mishra, sources added.

Rai is an MLA from the newly-formed Pindra constituency. He had ended his tie with BJP following the rift over giving ticket to Murli Manohar Joshi for the Varanasi seat in 2009. After leaving BJP, Rai joined Congress.

The competition is between Congress's Ajay Rai and Rajesh Mishra: Sources

He is a Bhumihar who has a good presence in the constituency and shot into prominence when he defeated the CPI stalwart Udal in Kolsala constituency in the 1996 UP elections. He has since won each assembly election.

Congress's another possible candidate Rajesh Mishra, former MP from Varanasi, had won the seat for Congress in 2004 but finished fourth in 2009 when Joshi defeated BSP's Mukhtar Ansari by a narrow margin.

Varanasi has become the centre of attraction for all when BJP confirmed that Modi would contest from the city. Later AAP leader Kejriwal too announced that he would challenge Modi by contesting from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

In UP, almost all seats have a Muslim population of over 15-20 per cent while in some constituencies in Delhi, the minority section makes up about 20-22 per cent of the population.

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