With Vajpayee's poem, Yogi Adityanath gives war cry for UP polls
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who is known for his fiery speeches, has shared a poem written by former Prime Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee on micro-blogging platform 'Koo'.
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The poetry, written in chaste Hindi, delves into patriotism, resolve and courage and comes weeks before the Assembly elections begin in Uttar Pradesh.
The poetry is being seen as a war cry ahead of the polls. Adityanath, who is leading the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, is eyeing a comeback and has ruled out any challenge to the party.
The political temperature in the poll-bound state is rising as the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress are challenging the ruling BJP, vowing to wrest power from it.
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Akhilesh Yadav-led SP has tied up with Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and other smaller outfits. The BSP and Congress, meanwhile, are fighting the elections alone.
The SP has made a promise to provide 300 units of electricity free, and its workers are visiting every house to give a boost to the party's campaign. The SP is expected to release its manifesto soon.
The Congress too has devised a strategy - to give a higher representation to women and accordingly, announced the names of 50 women candidates (or total 40%) in its first list. The Congress charge is being led by party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has launched a 'Ladki hoon lad sakti hoon' campaign, and accusing the Yogi Adityanath government of not maintaining law and order in the state.
The BJP, meanwhile, has deployed its senior leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, to give a boost to the party's campaign. Both the leaders have visited Uttar Pradesh multiple times in the last few months; Shah is even busy in devising poll strategy and chalking about seat distribution among allies like the NISHAD party and Apna Dal.
Once the Election Commission's ban ends on January 22, Shah is expected to again visit UP on the very next day for campaigning. PM Modi, meanwhile, held an interaction session with party workers in Varanasi and asked them to work as a team.
The elections in Uttar Pradesh are scheduled to be held in seven phases from February 10. The results will be declared on March 10.