Comedian Shyam Rangeela, who made his name mimicking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, announced on Wednesday that he will contest the Lok Sabha elections against PM Modi from Varanasi.
In a post on X, Rangeela said, "I am excited by the love I am receiving from all of you after the announcement to contest elections from Varanasi. I will soon present my views to you on my nomination and contesting the elections through a video message after reaching Varanasi."
In an earlier post, Rangeela said, "I will contest elections from Varanasi because nowadays no one is sure who will withdraw the nomination."
Speaking to the media, he said, "In 2014, I was a follower of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I shared many videos supporting the Prime Minister. Videos were also shared against Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal. Seeing them, one could say that I will vote only for the Bharatiya Janata Party for the next 70 years. But the situation has changed in the last 10 years... I will now contest against the Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha polls as an Independent candidate."
He added: "My candidature will give the people of Varanasi an option while voting, unlike in Surat and Indore. So, I will go to Varanasi this week and file my nomination against Prime Minister Narendra Modi."
On April 25, Rangeela asked his followers on social media whether he should file the nomination as an Independent candidate from Varanasi.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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