Saying he wanted to contest as an ordinary candidate, Chaurasia resigned as minister of state for basic education and food and child nutrition from the Akhilesh Yadav government.
"This is a religious city.. There is no need of any post to contest from here. I have resigned from the ministry and sent my resignation to the chief minister today," Chaurasia told PTI.
"I want to contest as an ordinary candidate and would contest as such. I demand that BJP candidate Narendra Modi should also resign from the post of Gujarat chief minister and contest as an ordinary candidate," he said.
Chaurasia will face a tough fight as along with Modi, he will have to take on AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal who is also contesting Lok Sabha polls from Varanasi.