Yogi Adityanath not on ATS radar, asserts UP govt

Lucknow, Nov 11 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh government today denied that Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) was to interrogate any political personality or 'VIP' including Yogi Adityanath, the BJP MP from Gorakhpur, in connection with the recent Malegaon bomb blast.

Scotching rumours being circulated since yesterday in this regard, the Additional Director General of Police (ADG), Law and Order, UP Brij Lal and Secretary (Home) Kumar Kamlesh said Maharashtra ATS had not visited UP.

''We are in constant touch with the Maharashtra ATS and they had not said anything to us with regards to interrogating any prominent personality inluding Yogi,''Mr Lal told reporters this evening.

The rumours are swirling since yesterday that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath was on the radar of Maharashtra ATS, which had obtained permission of the trial court in Nasik to probe the involvement of a heavyweight politician from UP.

Yogi, who is also the head of Gorakhnath temple, the presiding deity of the region, has joined the BJP ranks from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, the BJP today renominated Yogi Adityanath to contest Lok Sabha polls from Gorakhpur in the first list of 11 MPs from the country's biggest state.

UNI SB JAS RL AS1823