If Vadodara’s choice stemmed from the need to keep the Gujarati electorate in good humor as Gujarat is Modi’s home state, the significance of Varanasi as another hot seat is far greater.

A smaller and superficial reason could be that Varanasi houses the famous Hindu Vishwanath Temple and this choice gelled well with BJP’s “Somnath to Vishwanath” slogan, one that had catapulted the party to popular Hindu imagination in the early nineties.

The bigger reason is that the 25 to 32 seats in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh (which has a total of 80 seats) and is loosely defined as Poorvanchal, is crucial to BJP.

A win at Varanasi will affirm Modi’s winability outside Gujarat as well as unleash a Modi-effect on surrounding districts that will enable a dent into Bahujan Samaj Party’s Dalit-Muslim vote base.

In 2009, the seat was rendered safe for the BJP but very narrowly, for Murli Manohar Joshi against BSP’s Mukhtar Ansari could win only due to a huge Hindu voter turnout in the second half of the polling day in response to an overwhelming Muslim turnout in the early morning hours who most probably had voted for Ansari, infamous for crimes ranging from multiple murders and kidnapping and for which he still languishes in Agra jail.

This time around, the BJP hopes to fracture secular votes, derive full advantage of the leanings of the upper caste, urban class and youth towards it, and consolidate a few backward sub-communities.

The first to announce his challenge to the Modi-might is newbie Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party.

Realizing that the BJP is the foremost competitor in this election, the AAP looks eager to become the front runner by focusing on countering the BJP and Modi on twin issues of inclusion and development, i.e. the BJP is tainted with the gore of 2002 Godhra riots and that its Gujarat model of development is a sham.

Kejriwal’s gains would also lie in dominating media spaces thereby reclaiming his image among the populace as the only true anti-corruption crusader which has taken a drubbing of late.

In Varanasi his magic is expected to work more among the downtrodden and Muslims as the city’s urban and politically astute voters might favor a PM nominee.

As for other Non-BJP parties, their fractious rivalries and ambitions are too predominant to enable a joint candidate against Modi. Nor do they seem keen on attributing a super hero status to Kejriwal by zeroing on him to represent them against Modi.

It has been learnt that the Congress, which is on a re-think and re-strategize mode, might field its Sangh-baiter Digvijaya Singh in Varanasi.

Loss of public esteem due to economic mismanagement, innumerable scams and frail leadership of the United Progressive Alliance government has rendered the Congress devoid of its sting.

Senior party leaders who were either opting out of Lok Sabha elections or passing on the baton of their home constituencies to their heirs in favor of advisory roles due to declining stocks of the Congress are being pressurized to take on to the electoral field by threats of retirement by none other than the party vice president Rahul Gandhi.

Yet how much so ever Gandhi may be sharpening his attacks on Modi and urging his party workers on Google Hangout to ignore “jokes” poll surveys that predict rosy prospects for the BJP and National Democratic Alliance, the tempo of electioneering for rest of the poll campaign is at its lowest ever.

The BSP which is following the Brahmin-Dalit formula in Uttar Pradesh has resorted to reverse polarization so as to prevent division of anti-BJP votes and has fielded its Brahmin face Satish Chandra Mishra against Modi to cut into the upper caste vote bank.

However, Mayawati of the BSP is known to perceive Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party as a bigger enemy and might just want to keep options open for a post-poll alliance.

As for the Samajwadi Party, faced with anti-incumbency, Muslim displeasure, mal-governance and desertions, it has decided to check the Modi-effect by fielding its party supremo from Azamgarh, an eastern Uttar Pradesh constituency.

Therefore Modi will have to play all his rivals how so ever divided they may be and compete with two more PM aspirants (Rahul Gandhi and Mulayam Singh Yadav) contesting from Uttar Pradesh.

Of late, his efforts to shift away from a socially divisive narrative has softened his image among Muslims and secular voters, and his clichéd rants on his pick of reforms for betterment of nation have projected him as a determined man of action.

But the extent to which Modi-wave can raise BJP’s stocks will determine his numerical power to lead a central government formation from 7 Race Course Road, New Delhi, the official residence of India’s Prime Minister.