In what seems to be an effort to save from being tagged of playing `communal’ or `love Jehad’ card, Bharatiya Janta Party, has put controversial Gorakhpur MP, Yogi Adityanath in the star campaigner list for the by-elections on the 16th place.
Earlier, Yogi was slated to lead the campaign in UP along with Union Minister Kalraj Mishra and UP BJP president laxmikant Bajpai.
By-elections for one lok Sabha and 11 Assembly seats are slated for September 13. BJP has submitted a list of 39 campaigners to the Election Commissioner in which Yogi has been placed after 15 other party leaders. The list opens with BJP president Amit Shah, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other party leaders like Ramlal, laxmi Kant Bajpai, Dinesh Sharma, Kalraj Mishra, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Ram Shankar Katheria, Smriti Irani, V.K. Singh, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Vinay Katiyar, Ramapati Ram Tripathi and Surya Pratap Shahi. After them Yogi gets his name in the list.
BJP state president laxmi Kant Bajpai, while trying to avoid any controversy out of it claimed before the media persons that there is nothing such important in the star campaigner list. ‘Yogiji is a senior leader and he will campaign extensively in the state,’he stated. Recently, Yogi had said, that riots take place only in those localities where there is substantial Muslim population. Earlier, an old CD showed him as delivering a controversial speech in which UP government has speed up its investigation.