​ There is a massive demand for Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath to join the BJP’s election campaign in Karnataka for the upcoming assembly elections. The state unit wants the chief minister to be seen with different candidates at public rallies and the demand may go up now after the police encounter of Asad Ahmed and Yogi’s hit slogan of Mitti mein mila denge.

News18 has learnt that the BJP state unit has requested at least six trips by Adityanath to the poll-bound state for multiple rallies and road shows. “Multiple candidates want the UP CM’s rallies in their constituencies, especially coastal Karnataka, where Hindutva is a major issue,” said a BJP leader in Bengaluru.

Adityanath could, however, make around four trips from the last week of April for about a dozen rallies and road shows in the state. Sources said Adityanath will also be busy in the two-phase urban local body elections to be held in Uttar Pradesh on May 4 and 11.

Sources further said the Asad Ahmed encounter case could make Adityanath a big draw, where issues like action against the Popular Front of India (PFI), have been significant in the coastal Karnataka region. Adityanath’s strict approach towards gangsters and criminals could make its way into his campaign speeches in Karnataka, which the BJP feels will have good resonance.

Another BJP CM who could campaign in a big way will be Himanta Biswa Sarma. Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, an OBC face, will also be doing rallies in Karnataka. Adityanath has emerged to be a successful star campaigner for the BJP in other states and has been extensively used during the elections in Gujarat, Tripura, Uttarakhand and southern states too.

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