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In MP, Chhattisgarh & Rajasthan, BJP is leading in 26 of 63 seats where Yogi Adityanath campaigned, raising questions about his effectiveness.

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s credentials as a star campaigner for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have taken a severe beating in these elections.

As per the latest trends, in the Hindi heartland, the BJP is trailing in 59 per cent of the seats where Adityanath addressed rallies.

The UP chief minister, who is the BJP’s Hindutva mascot, addressed rallies in 63 constituencies across Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Of these, the BJP is leading in just 26 seats, a strike rate of 41 per cent.

Adityanath’s poorest strike rate was in Chhattisgarh, where he addressed rallies in 24 seats. Of these, the BJP is leading in only eight. In 2013, the BJP had won 16 of these seats.

Of 13 seats in MP where Adityanath addressed public meetings, the BJP is leading in five. The party had won eight of these in 2013.

Adityanath addressed rallies in 26 seats in Rajasthan, of which the BJP is leading in 13. The last time, the party had won 23 of these constituencies.

Also read: Modi factor not good enough to win state elections for BJP anymore

The rabble-rouser fails to leave a mark

Adityanath’s poor strike rate puts a big question mark on the BJP’s strategy to use a Hindutva mascot to make provocative speeches in a clear attempt to polarise voters on communal lines.

Throughout his campaign trail, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister stoked controversies with his rabble-rousing speeches. In Rajasthan, he threatened terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar of another surgical strike if he made any threats about the Ram temple. His controversial declaration of Lord Hanuman as a Dalit appeared to have cost the BJP many votes.

And while Adityanath was trying to stoke communal passions in poll-bound states, Uttar Pradesh continued to make headlines for all the wrong reasons — the latest being the killing of a police officer by cow vigilantes in Bulandshahr.

The chief minister had been addressing rallies in Rajasthan when mob violence in Bulandshahr resulted in the murder of Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh.

Also read: Congress leaders upbeat over big Hindi heartland gains in Assembly polls

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