Yogi wants BJP to win all nine Gorakhpur seats for 300 plus tally in UP polls

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday called upon voters to improve Bharatiya Janata Party’s 2017 tally in Gorakhpur by making it win all the nine assembly seats in the district.

Such a win would enable the party to achieve the statewide target of 300 plus seats in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh assembly election, Yogi Adityanath said. The BJP had won eight seats in Gorakhpur district in 2017 when it swept to power in the state with a tally of 312 seats. Its allies had won 13 other seats.

Yogi was addressing public meetings in Pipraich and Gorakhpur rural assembly constituencies. Adityanath, a five-time former Lok Sabha MP, is contesting his first assembly election from the Gorakhpur urban constituency.

“There is a wave in support of the BJP across the state. The BJP has taken a decisive lead over its rival political parties in the four phases of the polls held so far,” Yogi said.

The BJP government had launched several development projects in Gorakhpur district where two universities — Ayush University and Guru Gorakhnath University — have been established, he said.

The state government also launched a new sugar mill in Pipraich as a gift to the farmers, Yogi added.

Yogi Adityanath also said, “My government is committed to protecting the crops of farmers as well as cattle. We have opened cowsheds in various districts for cattle. The government will establish gobar gas (bio-gas) plants in the villages and the farmers will not have to purchase cooking gas. The new scheme will protect the cattle and crops.”

Lashing out at the Samajwadi Party, Yogi said when the SP was in power, its focus was only on construction of boundary walls of cemeteries across the state whereas the BJP government launched several infrastructure projects.

He said the same thing in Ballia and then sought to draw a contrast by asserting “we (BJP government) beautify the temple of Bhrigu Baba (a reference to the sage Bhrigu)”. Ballia has a Bhrigu temple.

Bhrigu was one of the seven great sages, known as the Saptarshis according to Hindu religious texts, and the first compiler of predictive astrology.

At the Ballia rally, Yogi Adityanath also said, “We beautify the temple of Bhrigu Baba, are building Ram temple in Ayodhya and got the development of Kashi Vishwanath Dham done in Kashi. Beautification of Braj area and Maa Vindhyavasini Dham is also being done.”

Stating that he has a very close relationship with Ballia, he further said, “I visited Ballia several times in the last five years.”

At the Gorakhpur rallies, he alleged that under the SP government, development was limited to a family and a particular area. Power cuts were the order of the day but now the people are getting uninterrupted power supply, he said.

Earlier, addressing a public meeting in Ambedkar Nagar, Yogi said the Samajwadi Party deviated from the ideals of socialist ideologue Ram Manohar Lohia.

The SP promoted and protected criminal elements and rioters, he alleged.

He also addressed public meetings at Fazilnagar in Kushinagar district and Bariya in Ballia district.

Gorakhpur, Ballia, Kushinagar and Ambedkar Nagar are among the districts that vote on March 3 in the sixth phase of the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh assembly election.