Clash of titans in Varanasi: Modi vs Rahul-Akhilesh road show

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to hold a mega road show in Varanasi on Saturday, the day Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi are also scheduled to address a similar event in the Prime Minister's Lok Sabha constituency.

Amid the high-voltage electioneering, Modi is also expected to offer prayers at Kashi Vishwanath and Kal Bhairav temples and meet people in various areas after beginning his day from Banaras Hindu University around 9 a.m. "The Prime Minister will begin from Banaras Hindu University gate and will reach Baba Vishwanath temple by meeting people via Ravidas gate, Lanka, Assi, Bhadaini, Sonarpura, Madanpura, Godauliya and Baas Phatak," a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) statement said here. Modi will then visit Kal Bhairav temple by road via Maidagin, Kotwali, Visheshwarganj and Gujarat Vidya Mandir. The Prime Minister would also address a public rally in Varanasi. Akhilesh and Gandhi are also expected to address a joint road show in Varanasi on Saturday. However, according to Congress sources, their programme will begin late in the afternoon. Varanasi votes on March 8 in the last phase of the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh elections. Forty, including eight in Varanasi constituency, will vote in the seventh round of the assembly elections. Voting for sixth phase of UP elections on Saturday: Voting for 49 Uttar Pradesh Assembly constituencies, with SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav's Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency being in focus, will be held on Saturday in the sixth phase Assembly segments of Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency of firebrand BJP leader Yogi Adityanath, and Mau, where jailed gangster-turned-MLA Mukhtar Ansari is in fray, also figure in this penultimate phase of polling that will also cover some districts bordering Nepal. Around 1.72 crore voters, including 94.60 lakh men and 77.84 lakh women, are eligible to cast their votes in this round to decide the fate of 635 candidates. The districts going to polls tomorrow are Mau, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Deoria, Azamgarh and Ballia. Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency has 10 assembly seats, of which SP had won nine in 2012, but this time Mulayam has not addressed a single meeting in his parliamentary constituency. The prestige of Union minister Kalraj Mishra, who represents Deoria in the Lok Sabha, too is at stake, besides that of Adityanath. Prominent candidates in 6th phase include: 1: BSP turncoat Swami Prasad Maurya from Padrauna (Kushinagar). 2: Former BJP state president Surya Pratap Shahi from Pathardeva (Deoria) 3: Shyam Bahadur Yadav (SP), son of former Governor Ram Naresh Yadav from Fulpur Pawai (Azamgarh) 4: SP turncoat Ambika Chowhdury  is contesting on BSP ticket from Fefna (Ballia). 5: Another SP turncoat Narad Rai, who defected in to BSP is in fray from Ballia Sadar. 6: UP strongman Mukhtar Ansari, who is contesting from Mau for BSP. 7: Ansari's son Abbas, who's is in fray from Ghosi seat in Mau district. In the 2012 Assembly polls, of the 49 seats, 27 were won by the SP, 9 by BSP, 7 by BJP, 4 by Congress and 2 by others.