POLLS\\ BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi filed his nomination from Varanasi on April 23, 2014, and added that the city should become the spiritual capital of world. The Varanasi battle between BJP and AAP is turning out to be one of the most-keenly watched contests in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.
Modi promised state-of-the-art tourist and infrastructure facilities for Varanasi, committed to cleaning up the Ganga, and making Varanasi weavers both national and intrnally famous.
A day before Modi’s filing of papers, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, on April 22, 2014, filed nomination papers and addressed a rally where he attacked Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi for “helicopter democracy”. He mentioned that Modi would be arriving on a helicopter to Banaras Hindu University and would be leaving in the chopper after garlanding university founder’s statue—to start his road show. “People of Amethi are now fed up of Rahul Gandhi whom they see arrive and leave in a chopper. I hope Varanasi does not make the same mistakes, else they, too, will get to see Modiji mostly on a helicopter—but never among them,” he said.