Battle for UP: Yogi files nomination in Amit Shah's presence

Gorakhpur, Feb 4 (IANS) In the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday filed his nomination papers for the Gorakhpur Assembly seat.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh, along with several other party leaders and MLAs were also present on the occasion, turning it into a mage saffron event.

The BJP's allies, Ashish Patel of Apna Dal and Sanjay Nishad of Nishad Party, were also in attendance.

This is the first time that Yogi, a five-time former Lok Sabha MP, is contesting the state Assembly elections as a candidate.

Shah had earlier declared Yogi as the party's Chief Ministerial candidate.

In 2017, when Yogi Adityanath became Chief Minister, he had opted to become member of the legislative council instead of contesting an Assembly seat.

Earlier in the day, Shah also addressed a workers' meeting and said that the BJP was all set to repeat the history of 2014, 2017 and 2019 when it had walked home with an overwhelming majority.

He said that the party would win over 300 seats this time.

The Union Home Minister further said that Yog had freed the state of mafia. "Today mafia is either in jail, or outside Uttar Pradesh. He has worked relentlessly to change the image of the state," he said.

Shah went on to list the various welfare schemes introduced by the BJP governments to benefit the poor.

Yogi Adityanath, while speaking, thanked the party leadership for reposing faith in him and asked every party worker to work like a contestant and ensure BJP's victory.

He lauded Shah for scripting the party's success and making it the biggest political organisation in the world, adding that the double engine government in Delhi and Lucknow had excelled in various spheres.

Before filing the nomination papers, Yogi had performed 'Rudrabhishek' at the Gorakhnath temple.

The elaborate puja was performed by 11 pandits.

Security arrangements for the occasion had also been beefed up with heavy barricades erected on the route to the district collectorate.

Drone cameras were seen keeping a close watch on the movement of people and vehicles.