Varanasi, March 4: Every road in Uttar Pradesh led to Varanasi today with the city playing host to all the big players of this election: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi and Mayawati.

Modi was the first to hit the streets of what happens to be his parliamentary constituency, starting from the gates of the Banaras Hindu University just after 9am and ending his road show at the Kashi Vishwanath temple around noon.

Shortly after he wound up his programme, the Samajwadi Party-Congress combine took over. Rahul was joined by Akhilesh and his wife Dimple, who seems one of her party's star attractions this election.

Around the same time, Mayawati held a low-key rally on the edges of Varanasi, away from the city's congested heart that witnessed her rivals' high-octane campaigns.

It took Modi three hours to cover a distance less than 4km. Ringed by security, the Prime Minister stood in an open car and waved to the voters while party officials and cadres kept up the standard "Modi, Modi..." and "Har Har Modi" chants.

At the end of the yatra, Modi visited the Kashi Vishwanath and Kal Bhairav temples.

The BJP is hoping that today's campaign would generate a wave of support in all the five Assembly segments of the Prime Minister's constituency.

Any setback in even one of these five seats would be seen as a personal blow to the Prime Minister, the party's lone mascot this state election. The BJP wants to prevent even a dip in support here compared to the last general election.

Perceptions of faulty ticket distribution have, however, caused some heartburn at the ground level.

Shyamdev Roy Chowdhury, one of the party's local stalwarts, has been sulking since being denied nomination.

Today, he was seen with Modi inside the Vishwanath temple, the Prime Minister reaching out to him to gain his support for the party candidates.

The Samajwadi-Congress combine is striving to cause a few embarrassments to the BJP in Modi's constituency, but the BJP has been winning all the three urban Assembly seats in Varanasi for decades.

It's through these three seats that Akhilesh, Rahul and Dimple held their 9km road show, standing on a platform built on the roof of a bus while politicians and cadres from both parties followed the cavalcade.

Like Modi, the trio visited the Kashi Vishwanath shrine at the end of their programme, the unscheduled temple trip aimed at sending a message to Varanasi's Hindu voters.

On the other hand, the Samajwadi-Congress accused Modi of holding an unscheduled road show, claiming the Prime Minister had been slated only to visit the temple and not hold a street procession.

Mayawati's rally, in one of Varanasi's two rural constituencies, attracted little fanfare. She claimed the Bahujan Samaj Party was poised to form the government and urged the voters not to be swayed by her rivals' high-voltage propaganda machines.

Mayawati, this election's most understated campaigner, has been slogging to consolidate a combined Dalit-Muslim vote bank behind her party. She has fielded some 100 Muslim candidates, the highest by any group. The BJP has nominated none.

• Varanasi votes on March 8 in the seventh and last phase of the Assembly elections