New Delhi, March 21 -- The BJP Thursday fielded Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi constituency and its president Amit Shah from Gandhinagar in place of L K Advani as it announced its first list of 184 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.

Senior party leader J P Nadda told a press conference that the party also decided to field Home Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow and another Union minister Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur. Both leaders had won from these seats in the last general election.

Union Minister Smriti Irani has been renominated from Amethi and will take on Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju to fight from Arunachal East. The BJP has also renominated Union ministers V K Singh and Mahesh Shamra...