The battle for Varanasi has become very interesting after the Samajwadi Party dropped its candidate Shalini Yadav in favour the sacked BSF jawan Tej Bahadur Yadav, who had fielded himself against Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an independent candidate.
Varanasi had gone to the Samajwadi Party as part of its seat sharing arrangement under the grand alliance. The Samajwadi Party had fielded Shalini Yadav. But, the party dropped her name and announced Tej Bahadur Yadav as its new candidate from here. The SP made the announcement on Twitter.
सेना के जवान तेज़ बहादुर जी को वाराणसी से समाजवादी पार्टी का टिकट दिया गया है।
— Samajwadi Party (@samajwadiparty) April 29, 2019
The Congress has fielded Ajay Rai as its candidate from Varanasi against Modi.
The BJP has often played the nationalism card and projected itself as the messiah of the Indian armed forces. Tej Bahadur was dismissed from the service after he raised the issue of poor quality of food being provided to members of paramilitary forces, deployed in the difficult terrain at the border.