Gods, Goddesses and Modi in Varanasi

"We have learnt from our mistakes. In the last elections we unwittingly helped BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi win from Varanasi, just because we rooted for Mukhtar Ansari.

We are not going to repeat the mistake this time around," Manjoor Ansari, the leader of Banarasi saree weavers from Madanpura, a predominantly Muslim locality of the city, told IANS.

Mukhtar Ansari, who is in jail on a murder charge, commands good following among Muslims and Dalits.

He had contested the last election on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket and polled 160,000 votes. Joshi had scraped through by a margin of only 16,000 votes.

"Modi and his close aide Amit Shah are trying to prop up Mukhtar Ansari this time as an independent candidate so that he divides the Muslim votes to the advantage of BJP," Ateeq Ansari, a prominent leader of the Muslim weavers' community, told IANS.