Murli Manohar Joshi says BJP asked him to not contest from Kanpur seat: Joshi who has been party president and union minister in the past had given up his Varanasi seat for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 and had instead contested from Kanpur where he won by a huge margin. Not just Joshi, but other veterans like Advani, Kalraj Mishra, Shanta Kumar and Kariya Munda were apprised by party general secretary Ramalal that they would not contest in the Lok Sabha poll.