Lok Sabha elections: Amid EC's gag order, Yogi Adityanath to visit Ayodhya

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will visit the Ram Lalla temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday, amid the 72-hour ban on campaigning imposed on him by the Election Commission.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. PTI Photo

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will visit the Ram Lalla temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday, amid the 72-hour ban on campaigning imposed on him by the Election Commission. Adityanath visited the famous Hanuman Setu temple here and offered prayers Tuesday, a day after the poll panel barred him from electioneering for three days for likening the ongoing Lok Sabha polls to a contest between 'Ali' and 'Bajrang Bali'. In Ayodhya, along with the makeshift shrine to Ram Lalla, the chief minister will also pray at the nearby Hanuman Garhi temple on Wednesday. In the evening, he will go to Devipatan, a temple of goddess Durga in Balrampur district, where he would stay the night. The chief minister reached the Hanuman Setu temple here Tuesday morning and got a rousing reception from his supporters amid slogans of "Jai Gorakhdham" and "Jai Bajrangbali ji". He, however, refused to take questions from the mediapersons, following the poll panel's gag order. He spent about 25 minutes at the temple and was seen bowing before the deity and sitting with folded hands to recite the "Hanuman Chalisa." Though he accepted greetings from the large numbers of morning worshippers present there on a Tuesday, the day dedicated to Lord Hanuman, with a smile, he refrained from interacting with them. The chief minister also stayed away from Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's roadshow, held Tuesday before he filed his nomination paper for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat. Adityanath also cancelled his rallies in Nagina and Fatehpur Sikri. The BJP termed the chief minister's visit to the temple "a personal one". The Election Commission Monday barred Adityanath from campaigning for 72 hours starting 6 am Tuesday for his "divisive" comments at a rally in Meerut. "If the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP have faith in Ali, we too have faith in Bajrang Bali," he had said there. While Ali is a revered figure in Islam, Bajrang Bali is Lord Hanuman's another name.