'...we had decided then that we would feed him pooris': Akhilesh Yadav keeps up Yogi Adityanath lookalike charade, makes clear 2017 slight still rankles

Akhilesh Yadav has taken another crack at using his election campaign partner - a man who bears a likeness to Yogi Adityanath - to make a jibe at the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.

Taking to Twitter, the Samajwadi Party chief has shared a picture where he is almost certainly jetting between rallies aboard a private plane. In the picture he looks like he's having a spot of lunch beside Suresh Thakur alias Yodha - the aforementioned Yogi Adityanath lookalike.

The pair are seated across from each other and, at first, present a politically confusing sight, and that's what Akhilesh is attempting to play on. This becomes evident from his caption:

"Jab unhono ne humaare jaane ke baad mukhyamantri awaas ko Gangajal se dhoya tha tab humne bhi tay kar liya tha ki hum unko poori khilaayenge."

"When he (Yogi Adityanath) had purified the CM's residence after we (erstwhile SP govt) left, we had also decided that we'd feed him pooris"

The matter refers to Yogi Adityanath holding a havan and pooja at the CM's residence in Lucknow before moving in once he had been appointed to the state's top post after the BJP's stunning win in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls - clearly, Akhilesh Yadav hasn't forgotten.

The logic of using a Yogi Adityanath lookalike is so that he may tell the people of U.P the 'truth about the Yogi government.'

He's tweeted about him earlier as well:

Akhilesh wrote: "We cannot bring fake God, but have brought a baba ji. He will tell the truth about the government to everyone in the state" 

Elections are being held in Uttar Pradesh in all seven phases and will conclude on May 19, with results to be declared on May 23.