Modi to file nomination from Varanasi on April 26; Nitish, Uddhav to accompany PM

New Delhi, Apr 23: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Tuesday confirmed that Narendra Modi will file nomination from the Varanasi parliamentary seat for the Lok Sabha elections 2019 on April 26 and several prominent NDA leaders including Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief Nitish Kumar, SAD's Sukhbir Singh Badal and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray would accompany the Prime Minister for the nomination filing.

"Once again Modi Ji will contest from Kashi (Varanasi), he will file his nomination on afternoon of April 26. He will also participate in road show in Kashi on April 25. Sukhbir Singh Badal, Nitish Kumar, Uddhav Thackeray and other NDA leaders will be present during nomination filing by PM Modi on April 26," Shah said today.

When asked about speculations that Priyanka Gandhi may contest from Varanasi, Shah said Congress is in confusion.

"There is democracy in the country, anyone can contest. Congress is in confusion, not us. Our candidate has been declared, Narendra Modi will contest election from here," he said.

Varanasi goes to the polls in the last phase on May 19. The last date of filing nominations for the seat is April 29.

Amid speculations on whether she will fight the Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Priyanka Gandhi on Sunday put the onus on Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Last month, when asked if she would like to contest from her mother's constituency, Raebareli, Priyanka Gandhi had quipped, "Why not Varanasi". And stopped at that, she did not respond to questions put forth by the scribe after that remark and just kept smiling.

Earlier today, while addressing a rally at Rajnagar in Chhatarpur district, Shah said the party's Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate Pragya Singh Thakur was framed in false cases by those who had coined the term "Hindu terror" and indulged in vote bank politics. He defended her candidature and called it an "absolutely right decision".