GORAKHPUR: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday thanked the BJP leadership for choosing him as the candidate from the Gorakhpur Urban seat in the assembly election and exuded confidence that the party would return to power in the state with an "overwhelming majority".
"I express thanks to the Prime Minister, national president and BJP Parliamentary Board who decided to field me from Gorakhpur Urban seat in the current assembly elections. With the help of party workers and present and past representatives, the BJP will win not only in Gorakhpur but in the entire state and form its government again with an overwhelming majority. It is before everybody as to how the BJP has worked effectively on the issues of nationalism, development and good governance," Adityanath told reporters in his first reaction after the declaration of his name.
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Adityanath said that BJP will once again form its government in the state with its core mantra of "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas". Declaring the names of candidates for 107 seats going to polls in the first and second phase of voting in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP on Saturday fielded Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban seat and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya from Sirathu in Prayagraj as it expressed confidence of retaining power with a big majority.
Gorakhpur Urban seat will go to vote in the sixth phase on March 3. BJP's Radha Mohan Das Agarwal is representing the seat at present. This would be the first occasion when Adityanath will be contesting UP assembly elections.
Presently, he is a member of the state legislative council. He had been the MP from Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat since 1998 until he became the chief minister in 2017