Of late, rumours have been doing rounds that Prime Minister Narendra Modi might contest from Puri as he had chosen in the 2014 elections Varanasi, another prominent pilgrimage place of Hindus, as his constituency and the BJP got a thumping majority in the Uttar Pradesh elections.
The BJP central leadership has been planning to make inroads in eastern India, for which Odisha is its major focus State as is evident from Modi choosing Cuttack as the venue to place his four years’ governance report card to the nation.
However, BJP president Amit Shah, replying to a reporter’s question in New Delhi on Saturday whether Modi would contest from Puri, denied the speculation. He, however at the same time, said that there are talks of the Prime Minister contesting poll from several places in the country and that Modi would take a decision in this regard at the appropriate time.
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, while responding to a similar poser at his news conference in Bhubaneswar on the day, said, "Modi has not done anything for Varanasi during the last four years. If he comes to Puri, he will not only leave Varanasi but also will leave the country in 2019," thereby meaning that the BJP would lose the next general elections.