TMC joins Varanasi show, fields ex-Hindu Mahasabha leader

, March 20: Trinamool Congress has also joined the big race in Varanasi by fielding Indira Tiwari, a former Hindu Mahasabha leader, in the Lok Sabha polls.

Tiwari has served as general secretary of the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, a post she resigned in February this year.

Gujarat chief minister and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is contesting from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Vadodara in Gujarat. The Aam aadmi Party is likely to field its chief Arvind Kejriwal against Modi.

Congress hasn't announced its candidate from Varanasi, but it is speculated that either Congress' senior leaders Digvijay Singh or Anand Sharma will contest against the BJP supremo.

Asked whether TMC will be open to supporting Modi post polls, Indira Tiwari said, "It is a hypothetical question."

"I worked with Hindu Mahasabha from 2006 to February this year, when I resigned after Trinamool approached me to fight the elections. I was the national general secretary. I want to make it clear that it is the Hindu Mahasabha that is a respondent in the Ram Janmabhoomi case. The BJP is taking the country for a ride by making it look like they are a party. The courts have accepted that the land belongs to the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas. As an office bearer I was closely associated with that case," Tiwari told Indian Express.

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