BJP Chief Amit Shah to Campaign for Phulpur and Gorakhpur By-elections
Lucknow: BJP President Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are among 40 leaders who will campaign for the party candidates in the upcoming Gorakhpur and Phulpur by-elections.
BJP has also issued a list of 40 ‘Star Pracharaks’ who will be campaigning for the party, the list has been approved by the Election Commission as well.
Apart from Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Om Mathur, Mahendra Nath Pandey and Sunil Bansal will also campaign for the BJP in the by-elections. CM Yogi has already held public meetings on Monday and Tuesday in Gorakhpur to garner support for the BJP candidate Upendra Dutt Shukla.
Both the parliamentary seats went vacant after the resignation of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya. The BJP wants to retain both the seats with good margin in order to send out a strong message to the opposition ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.
While addressing a public gathering in Gorakhpur, Adityanath had even said that Gorakhpur by-elections can be termed as a ‘rehearsal’ of 2019. Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya is also busy addressing public meetings in Phulpur in the favour of BJP candidate Kaushlendra Singh Patel. Maurya held a roadshow on Tuesday.
The Gorakhpur Parliamentary seat is considered to be a stronghold of Gorakhpeeth as late Mahant Awaidyanath was the district’s MP from 1989 to 1998. After him, Yogi Adityanath won the seat for five consecutive terms.
The contest for Phulpur is also set to see a hot battle, as Kaushlendra Singh Patel will be going up against the Samajwadi Party’s Nagendra Singh Patel. The Patel vs Patel contest’s winner will be decided based on who has been closer to the community.
