'Inspired' by Lord Krishna, BJP MP wants Yogi Adityanath to contest UP polls from Mathura

On Monday, BJP MP Harnath Singh Yadav urged party president JP Nadda to announce CM Yogi Adityanath as the candidate from Mathura in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh polls. In a letter addressed to Nadda, Yadav contended that the people of Braj, as well as the state and India, will be very happy if such a decision is taken. Moreover, he asserted that Lord Krishna had "inspired" him to write this letter. 

"The Chief Minister has himself announced that he will contest the election from whichever constituency the party asks me to. Voters of every constituency want Yogi Ji to contest from their Assembly seat. But I humbly appeal to you that the people of the Braj region are especially desirous that Yogi Ji should contest the election from Lord Krishna's city Mathura. Lord Krishna has inspired me to write this letter," Rajya Sabha member Harnath Singh Yadav said.

On January 1, the UP CM confirmed his wish to fight the election but refrained from divulging whether he would contest from Ayodhya, Mathura, or Gorakhpur. Since 2012, every CM whether it is Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, or Adityanath has opted to get elected from the Legislative Council instead of contesting the Assembly polls. After taking oath as the CM and Deputy CMs respectively, Yogi Adityanath, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma were elected to the UP Legislative Council in September 2017. 

Here is the BJP MP's letter to JP Nadda: 

UP polls

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, BJP had won a whopping 312 seats in the 403-member House, whereas BSP could win only 19 seats. On the other hand, the SP-Congress alliance failed to bear fruit as it could win in only 54 constituencies. While this was seen as a mandate for PM Modi as BJP had not declared any CM candidate, Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath was a surprise pick for the post. Though some BJP leaders made conflicting statements over Adityanath's future as the Chief Minister, PM Modi put rest to all speculations by lauding UP's governance model during his successive visits to the state.

Meanwhile, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav has embarked on a statewide tour as a part of his "Samajwadi Vijay Yatra" in a bid to stage a comeback in the state. Buoyed by the overwhelming public support during his election campaign, he has often predicted that SP will win 400 seats in the 2022 Assembly polls. While Akhilesh Yadav has ruled out any alliance with Congress and BSP, he has announced a tie-up with Shivpal Yadav's PSP(L), Mahan Dal, OP Rajbhar's SBSP, RLD and the Apna Dal faction of Krishna Patel.