Yogi Adityanath today filed his nomination from Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, where he is contesting his first state election, with the BJP using the occasion to project a united front. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was by his side.
Before taking his first formal step towards fighting the UP election, the five-time MP prayed at the Gorakhnath temple - where he remains head priest - and performed a havan.
Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh is Yogi Adityanath's stronghold, and from here he has won every parliamentary election he has contested.
Amit Shah and several BJP leaders accompanied him in a huge show of strength by the party after it lost many significant backward caste leaders from eastern Uttar Pradesh to rival Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party.
So far, Yogi Adityanath has only one known rival in the Gorakhpur contest - Bhim Army's Chandrashekhar Azad. The Samajwadi Party has yet to name its candidate opposite Yogi Adityanath.
Ahead of the visit to the election office, Amit Shah addressed a rally with the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and lavished praise on him.
"I can say with pride that Yogi Adityanath has freed Uttar Pradesh of mafias. After 25 years, Yogi Adityanath established the rule of law in Uttar Pradesh," Amit Shah said.
Mr Shah also said Yogi Adityanath had freed Uttar Pradesh of Covid.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a provision for free Covid vaccines for the people, and I am happy to inform you that the state that has carried out the maximum number of vaccinations is none other than your own Uttar Pradesh. Under Yogi ji's leadership, UP has battled Covid most effectively," said the senior BJP leader.
BJP was the first to declare a Chief Minister candidate ahead of the Uttar Pradesh election starting February 10.
Yogi Adityanath was widely tipped to contest from Ayodhya, the site of the Ram temple, but the BJP finally decided to field him from his stronghold.
After Yogi Adityanath's candidature from Gorakhpur was announced, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also declared he would contest from Karhal in eastern UP.
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