Congress likely to announce candidate for Varanasi today

New Delhi: The eagerly awaited decision on the Congress's candidate from Varanasi to contest against Bharatiya Janata Party Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal is likely to come on Tuesday.

Three leaders in the Congress - Rashid Alvi, Digvijaya Singh and Anand Sharma - have expressed their willingness and urge to contest from the temple town. Alvi had in fact written to party President Sonia Gandhi saying he wants to contest from Varanasi.

In his letter, Alvi had written, "I am sure that this illustrious city would support me to strengthen the secular Indian values. The victory of Congress will be the victory of India."

Speaking to CNN-IBN, Alvi said he will teach secularism to Modi. "If I fight from Varanasi I am sure people will support secularism. Majority of people are secular there. I will teach real secularism to Narendra Modi. I am sure I'll defeat Modi and Kejriwal," Alvi said.

Digvijaya Singh too had hinted that he would want to contest elections from Varanasi. However, amid speculation that the Congress is seriously considering him as a candidate against Modi in Varanasi, Digvijaya last week said no one in the party has so far broached the issue to him.

"...No one in my party has even broached the subject of my contesting against Modi in Varanasi. It's probably a good media story but as far as I am concerned, no one has asked me till now on whether I should be contesting from Varanasi," Singh told a news channel.

The AICC general secretary at the same time said though he does not consider himself a heavy weight, he is "prepared" to fight from any seat, including in Varanasi, against Modi "if the party desired so."

Commerce Minister Ananda Sharma had also expressed the desire to contest against Modi from Varanasi. The Congress had said that it field a strong candidate against Modi.

The party has already fielded AICC General Secretary Madhusudhan Mistry, a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, to take on Modi in Vadodara, the second Lok Sabha seat from where BJP's prime ministerial candidate is contesting.