Modi from Varanasi, a strategy in Hindi heartland: Ananth Kumar

Bangalore, Mar 17: Prime Ministerial candidate

contesting from

is part of

's strategy to garner votes in the Hindi heartland, party National General Secretary

said on Monday.

On Modi contesting from the second constituency in Gujarat as well, Kumar said, "Let us wait for the surprise" till March 19 when Modi's home state list of candidates comes up before the BJP's Central Election Committee. "...this (contesting from Varanasi) is one of the most important steps in BJP's election strategy," he told reporters after inducting former Mayor of Lambeth, London, Dr Neeraj Patil into the party.

Noting that Uttar Pradash has 80 Lok Sabha seats and adjacent Bihar 40, he said Hindi heartland had more than 120 seats and whichever party wins two thirds of these seats can win 272 plus seats to form the government.

Illustrating the geographic location of Varanasi and how it can help Modi to influence neighbouring regions of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, he said, "This will also help us win a good number of seats in Uttarakhand, Delhi and Haryana regions." "...the fight of Narendra Modi from Varanasi is a strategic fight as we wanted to send a message to the entire Hindi heartland that our Prime ministerial candidate is going to contest from among them..."

On Rahul Gandhi's comment describing as "premature" BJP's assertion that the Supreme Court-appointed SIT and courts had given clean chit to Modi in the post-Godhra riots case, Kumar said, "This reflects Rahul Gandhi's knowledge about our judicial system; it shows how much maturity he has..." Neeraj Patil is a Kannadiga NRI who was the First Mayor of Asian origin in the London Borough of Lambeth from 2010 to 2011.

PTI