Attacking Congress, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that when defeat was staring at the face of the grand old party, its senior leader Rahul Gandhi had gone for penance to Kedarnath to seek help at the time of crisis.

Addressing a rally for the second day in Madhya Pradesh, Yogi said: “Rahulji is convinced that Congress is losing badly in the semi-finals of the assembly elections and hence has run away. He lacks the guts to face the elections. His absence shows that neither his party nor the public take him seriously.”

Yogi said that when the Congress government was in power at the Centre and in the MP, it had abandoned the victims of the Kedarnath tragedy.

“People kept wandering for many months, but the government did not help them. Modiji, as the chief minister of Gujarat, sought permission from the Centre to help the victims but it was denied. They had destroyed Kedarnath, but when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Uttarakhand government got an opportunity, they beautified Kedarnath Dham,” he said.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister narrated the story of the transformation of UP in the last six and a half years and invited the people of Madhya Pradesh to come to Ayodhya.

Urging people to vote for Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Brijendra Pratap Singh from Panna assembly constituency, Yogi said, “This entire area is connected to Bundelkhand of UP. People go from here to there for education, health care, employment and farming, hence this area is not far from us. The activities going on within both the states have an impact on each other’s areas.”

In another rally, Yogi appealed to people to vote in favour of Shishupal Yadav from Prithvipur assembly constituency, Yogi Adityanath said that there was a better security environment under the BJP government.

Elaborating on the development being carried out, he said that earlier in Madhya Pradesh, agriculture was in bad shape but now the situation had changed. Madhya Pradesh is no longer a BIMARU state, he added.

“This momentum of development should continue. If you want solutions then make BJP win. Prithvipur is surrounded by our Lalitpur and Jhansi. The problems will be solved from Bhopal as well as Lucknow,” Yogi said.

Seeking votes for Narendra Shivaji Patel from Udaipura assembly constituency in Raisen district, Surendra Patwa from Bhojpura, Dr Tribhuvan Ram Chaudhary from Sanchi and Dr Rampal Singh from Silwani, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that elections were fought not by individuals but on party ideology.

“This fight is also between two ideologies. On one side there is Congress, which has given only problems during its prolonged rule. During the time of Congress, LPG connection was either not available, or if available, it was only during festivals. People often had to face the police baton to get a cooking gas cylinder. But, today people are getting as much LPG as they need,” Yogi said. He also praised farmers, saying: “Here the paddy crop is flourishing for many kilometres.”

He said that through the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, Prime Minister Modi had made arrangements to reserve 33 per cent seats for women after delimitation.

The UP chief minister concluded: “The speed of development has been possible only because of the double-engine governments of the BJP. The Congress does not have the capacity and strength to carry out development works.”

Meanwhile, campaigning in Narsinghpur district on Wednesday, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath appealed for public support in favour of BJP candidate Prahlad Singh Patel from Narsinghpur, BJP candidate and MP from Gadarwala Rao, Uday Pratap Singh, Vishwanath Singh Patel from Tendukheda and Mahendra Nagesh from Gotegaon.

In a scathing attack on Congress, the Yogi said the Congress was responsible for the partition of the country, which led to the creation of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

“Had the Congress leaders not had the excessive desire for power, the country would not have been divided and would have been united. Iron man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had done the work of revival of Somnath as soon as the country got independence in 1947, but the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had opposed it. By fielding Union ministers in the assembly elections, BJP has told the public that each one of our workers will stand up for you through thick and thin,” the UP chief minister remarked.

Yogi said that Prahlad Singh Patel was a warrior hardened by barefoot struggles against the anarchy and hooliganism of Congress in Madhya Pradesh.

A huge crowd gathered at the public meeting venue to see and hear UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. People also gathered on rooftops of nearby houses to see and greet Yogi Adityanath. Yogi said that “the crowd of thousands is a witness to the fact that people already consider Prahladji as a leader and they are ready to work continuously in his struggles”.