Yogi Adityanath vs Chandrashekhar Azad: Gorakhpur Awaits Big Battle as Bhim Army Chief Challenges CM in UP Elections

Gorakhpur is the hometown of Adityanath. He had been the MP from the Lok Sabha seat since 1998 until he became the chief minister in 2017.

New Delhi: Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Aazad has decided to contest the upcoming Uttar Pradesh election 2022 against incumbent chief minister Yogi Adityanth from Gorakhpur Sadar seat. The announcement was made by Azad Samaj Party on Twitter. “National President of Azad Samaj Party Kashi Ram, Chandra Shekhar Azad ji will contest the assembly elections from Gorakhpur Sadar (322)”, the party tweeted on Thursday and shared a letter.

“To further Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram’s ideology ‘Bahujan Hitay, Bahujan Sukhay‘ (Welfare and happiness of Dalits), party  has decided to field Chandrashekhar Azad from Gorakhpur Sadar 322 to contest UP Polls”, the letter read.

आजाद समाज पार्टी काशीराम के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष चन्द्र शेखर आजाद जी गोरखपुर सदर ( 322) से लड़ेंगे विधानसभा चुनाव। @BhimArmyChief pic.twitter.com/cwYWH4C3lm

— Azad Samaj Party (@AzadSamajParty) January 20, 2022

This comes days after the BJP fielded CM Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur. For the unversed, CM Yogi will be the second leader to contest from the district as a Chief Minister after Tribhuvan Narayan Singh, who lost in 1971. Gorakhpur is the hometown of Adityanath. He had been the MP from the Lok Sabha seat since 1998 until he became the chief minister in 2017.

Earlier on Wednesday, former UP CM and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also hinted at contesting elections. Addressing a presser, the SP supremo said, “I will seek the permission of the people of Azamgarh if I decide to contest the elections. I need to seek their permission because they elected me from there.” Notably, Akhilesh has never fought a state election till now. Earlier last year, the former UP CM had announced that he would not contest the election.