Even as senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi Sunday said he was a “disciplined soldier” who will accept any BJP decision, which will “neither dent the prestige of our PM candidate nor compromise party’s winning chances”, supporters of Narendra Modi staged a dharna in Varanasi demanding that he be fielded from the city.

Over two dozen youths under the banner of Narendra Modi Army — followers of Modi who have set up units in more than 45 districts of UP — staged dharna at Udham Singh Park in Godowlia area of Varanasi. They raised various pro-Modi slogans— Kashi maange Modi-Modi; Kashi ki janata kare pukar, Narendra Modi abki baar; Kashi ka saansad kaisa ho, Narendra Modi jaisa ho.

“We staged dharna after getting reports that Murli Manohar Joshi was not ready to leave the seat for Modi. Our demand is that Modi should contest from Varanasi because his candidature from here may help BJP win other adjoining Lok Sabha seats too,” said Dharmendra Gupta, Varanasi district president of Narendra Modi Army.

Meanwhile, the Hindu Yuva Vahini, an outfit headed by BJP MP from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath, has announced to perform Rudra-abhishek at Kashi Vishwanath Temple on Tuesday to get Modi fielded from Varanasi.

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