Meet the two from MP who tried to take on Modi in Varanasi

Bhopal: At least two persons from Madhya Pradesh — a battery seller and a ‘chooranwala’ — tried their luck in contesting against PM Narendra Modi in Varanasi.
The nomination of one of them was rejected in scrutiny, and the other one could not file his nomination.
One of these wannabe contestants, Vijay Nandan, fought his first election last year against then the then CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Budhni.This time, he tried to take on PM Modi but his nomination was rejected.
“My main aim is to work for unemployed youth, and to create jobs by encouraging MSME sector. While govt schemes say that for setting up enterprises, employed youth can get collateral free loans but in practice banks do not adhere to it. It was on these issues and wrong policies of govt that I had contested from Budhni and have come to Varanasi to contesting polls,” said Nandan, a native of Seoni.
Nandan had set up a battery manufacturing unit, which is shut due to loan related issues. He has had to sell “parts of his factory”, he said. “I stood in queue from 5am to get the nomination form and submit it but to no avail. It was rejected on ‘technical issues’,” he said.
Another wannabe contestant, Ram Kumar Gupta of Datia, is a veteran of many elections and has a unique style of buying nomination forms with coins. He contested assembly elections in Datia last year. “I used to frequently visit Varanasi and take a holy dip in Ganges. My parliamentary constituency is a reserved seat, so I was wondering where to contest, when I suddenly got an inspiration from Ganga Maa to contest from Varanasi. So I carried bags of coins that I get at my grocery shop and chooran shop, travelled to Varanasi and purchased the nomination form,” Gupta told TOI.
His form, however, could not be submitted.
“I stood in queue for two days. On Tuesday, my local lawyer told me that the form is submitted but it is not being shown in list of candidates who have filed nomination. I am not able to understand how my form was not submitted,” he said.