Pioneer News Service
In what must help refurbish the image of Yogi Adityanath as a prominent Hindutva poster boy which was battered by the saffron debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, BJP and its ally RLD were leading in seven of the nine Uttar Pradesh Assembly seats where bypolls were held earlier this week while its arch rival Samajwadi Party was ahead in the remaining two. Observers say that the much-debated rallying cry coined by Yogi Adityanath ‘Batenge to katenge’ along with Narendra Modi’s relatively sobrrer ‘Ek hai to safe hai’ slogan struck an emotional chord with the Hindu voters cutting across the caste lines and consolidating the Hindu votes as a bloc behind the saffron party.
While BJP was leading in Kundarki, Khair, Ghaziabad, Phulpur and Majhawan seats its poll ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) was ahead in Meerapur. Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, was leading in Karhal, Katehari and Sisamau.
Congress did not contest the bypolls and threw its full weight behind SP, its INDIA bloc ally. BSP which contested all the nine seats was trailing in all.
