Yogi visits Ayodhya amid EC ban, BSP complains to poll panel

Yogi Adityanath Wednesday prayed at temples in Ayodhya and visited a Dalit family, prompting the BSP to complain to the EC that the Uttar Pradesh chief minister had violated the EC order barring him from campaigning.

The Election Commission had on Monday barred Adityanath from campaigning for 72-hours starting 6 am on Tuesday for his communal remarks.

The BSP, however, claimed that a crowd of about 500 people had gathered at the village where the chief minister had lunch with the Dalit family that had benefited from a central government housing scheme.

In his complaint to the poll panel, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Faizabad district president Mahendra Pratap Anand alleged that the chief minister had campaigned in the village which was a violation of the ban order imposed on him by the poll panel.

During his visit to the home of 60-year-old Mahaveer in the Muslim-dominated locality of Sutahti, adjacent to the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid site, Adityanath had a chapati with some bottle gourd and okra subzis.

A beneficiary of the Pradhan Mantri Aawaas Yojna (PMAY), the Dalit family had received Rs 2 lakh from the Union government for the construction of their home.

Adityanath also met Ram temple movement activists including Ram Janambhoomi Nyas president Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, Digambar Akhara Mahant Suresh Das and Vishva Hindu Parishad spokesperson Sharad Sharma.

Another BSP leader termed the meeting as an effort to mobilise Hindu voters.

Yogi met many Hindu religious leaders and he campaigned for the BJP and mobilised them. He has violated the election commission's orders, BSP's divisional coordinator Pawan Kumar told PTI.

The chief minister also visited the Sugreev Qila temple and Hanumangarhi temple in Ayodhya and performed an 'Aarti' on the banks of the river Saryu.

In the evening, he drove to Devipatan, a temple of goddess Durga in Balrampur district and after offering prayers, met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers.