Karnataka elections: Yogi Adityanath to address 35 rallies from May 3

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will address around 35 rallies in Karnataka from May 3. The BJP is banking on Adityanath to give the party's Hindutva pitch a push in the election campaign.

Adityanath is said to have a close link with the Mangaluru-based Jogi Math as he is the president of the organisation that elects the 'Mathadheesh' (head of this math) every 12 years. Adityanath attended the anointment ceremony in 2016.

Reports said that the UP CM also shares a good rapport with Sri Adichunchanagiri Mahasamsthana Math in Karnataka's Mandya district.

BJP insiders claim that both Lingayats and Vokkaligas practise the same customs and rituals as the Nath community does. So Yogi's Karnataka visit focus will be on Lingayat, Dalit and Nath community votes.

Adityanath, who is from the Nath sect to which the Mangalore-based Kadali Sri Yogeshwar (Jogi) Mutt belongs, had also campaigned during the Parivartan Yatra between November and January.

In one of his public rallies in Karnataka in January, Adityanath had said that the state has a link with the Gorakhnath sect whose founder had come to the southern state to propagate its beliefs.