NEW DELHI: Looking forward to a hattrick of a third term, a day after he held a 6 km long roadshow highlighting his promise to do more for the city Prime Minister Narendra Modi filed his nomination from the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate. Before filing the papers, PM Modi offered prayers and performed aarti at Dashwamedh Ghat and then took a cruise ride to the Namo Ghat and reached the Kaal Bhairav temple to offer his prayers.

While filing the nomination PM Modi said that mother Ganga had adopted him and his bond with Kashi is similar to a mother’s relation with her son recalling 2014 when as the then Chief Minister of Gujarat when he had filed his nomination from Varanasi Lok Sabha PM Modi had said, “Neither have I come here nor has anyone sent me, Mother Ganga has called me.” (Na Mai Yaha Aaya Hoon, Na Mujhe Kisi Ne Bheja Hai, Mujhe Toh Maa Ganga Ne Bulaya Hai). He also took to X and tweeted, “Filed my nomination papers as a candidate for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat. It is an honour to serve the people of this historic seat. With the blessings of the people, there have been remarkable achievements over the last decade. This pace of work will get even faster in the times to come.”

Leading  National Democratic Alliance (NDA) party leaders were present during his nomination along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and included RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary, TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, LJP-Ram Vilas Chief, Chirag Paswan and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan. 

Commenting on PM’s nomination Chandrababu Naidu said, “It is a historic day, historic place. We are very happy to be associated with it. He brought stability and sustainability in the country for the last 10 years and now he is planning for Viksit Bharat 2047. NDA will cross 400 seats. It is clear that NDA is 100% sweeping (in Andhra Pradesh).” Eknath Shinde said, “We are attending the nomination filing of PM Modi. It is a matter of pride for us as he is the most popular leader in the world.”