Chief minister Yogi Adityanath will resume his election campaign on Friday, when the 72-hour ban imposed on him by the Election Commission ends, and continue his temple run.
The chief minister has visited temples in Lucknow, Ayodhya, Balrampur and Varanasi after the ban came into force on Tuesday morning.
Adityanath, who had sparked a controversy with his Ali vs Bajrang Bali remark, will visit the Aliganj Hanuman temple in Lucknow on Friday. Then, he will go to Sambhal where he is scheduled to visit the Kaila Devi temple. After an elaborate religious programme, he is scheduled to address his first public rally at Sambhal after the ban.
Thereafter, Yogi will go for his second public meeting at Sirsaganj in Firozabad. For his third public meeting of the day, he will head to Etawah. The last public meeting of the day is scheduled in Misrikh, Hardoi.
On Thursday, Adityanath offered prayers to Lord Hanuman at the Sankatmochan temple in Varanasi and spent around half-an-hour there. The chief minister also recited the ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ at the temple just as he had done at the Hanuman Setu temple in Lucknow on the first day of his ban.
Later, the chief minister went to Garhwa Ghat Ashram where seers welcomed him. At the ashram, Yogi Adityanath called on Swami Sharananand. After having lunch there, the chief minister went to the ashram’s cow shelter where he offered fodder and bananas to cows.
{{/usCountry}}Later, the chief minister went to Garhwa Ghat Ashram where seers welcomed him. At the ashram, Yogi Adityanath called on Swami Sharananand. After having lunch there, the chief minister went to the ashram’s cow shelter where he offered fodder and bananas to cows.
{{/usCountry}}Besides the temple run, Adityanath also met a triple talaq victim and had lunch at a Dalit home in Ayodhya on Wednesday, the second day of the ban.
On Monday, the Election Commission had barred Yogi Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours starting 6am Tuesday for his comments at a rally in Meerut. The ban ends on Friday.
Adityanath had said at the rally, “If the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP have faith in Ali, we have faith in Bajrang Bali.”