Lauding former BSF constable Tej Bahadur Yadav for "challenging" Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday said there is "something in the soil of Haryana", the state from where the sacked jawan hails.

In a tweet, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener said that in the 2014 general elections too, someone from Haryana-- referring to himself-- had taken on Modi in Varanasi.

Yadav, the former Border Security Force (BSF) jawan, who was was dismissed in 2017 after complaining about the quality of food, was Monday declared as the candidate of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance in Uttar Pradesh.

"There is something in the soil of Haryana. Last time too, someone (himself) from Haryana had challenged Modi ji in Varanasi, this time too Haryana's jawan has locked horns with Modi ji. Best wishes to the SP-BSP alliance candidate from the entire nation," Kejriwal tweeted.

Born and brought up in Haryana, Kejriwal had contested against Modi in the 2014 general elections but lost to him by over 3 lakh votes. Varanasi goes to polls in the last phase of the ongoing elections on May 19.