Yogi Adityanath defies district admin, holds public rally

Defying orders to not hold a public rally at the Munshi Pulia area of the city, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath, who is the face of the BJP campaign for the upcoming by-polls in Uttar Pradesh, went ahead and held the rally.

Adityanath had been denied permission to hold a rally for the BJP candidate Gopal Tandon by Shrihari Pratap Shahi, additional district magistrate after the Samajwadi Party's Juhie Singh and the Congress's Ramesh Srivastava also sought permission for rallies at the same venue.

Tanon, Singh and Srivastava are all contesting the Lucknow East constituency in the by-polls on September 13.

Adityanath was at the centre of controversy after the Election Commission on Tuesday served him a notice against incendiary remarks made by him during an election rally in Noida on Sunday.