Murli kicks off the poster war in Varanasi

Varanasi: The Sitting MP Murli Manohar Joshi on Thursday took the dispute to the poster even though Narendra Modi’s candidature from Varanasi was under a cloud of doubt. Joshi and Modi supporters clashed with each other during this period.

Supporters of Joshi have put up hundreds of hoardings and banners with slogans such as “Atankwad par lage lagaaam, Dr Joshi ka paigam”, and “Bole Kashi Vishwanath, Dr Joshi ka denge saath”.

The speculation has been that a candidacy for Modi here would mean Joshi, the siting MP, shifting to Kanpur. At Modi’s recent Lucknow rally, a group of party workers in the crowd chanted, “Modiji tum raaj karo, Joshiji tyag karo.”

Joshi has frequently visited Varanasi in the past two months since the party started to discuss the possibility of Modi being fielded began. Modi had addressed a Vijay Shankhnad rally there in January.