Even as Uttar Pradesh prepares for the first phase of polling on Wednesday, nine star campaigners of the Bhartiya Janata Party, led by its president Nitin Gadkari, mounted carpet bombing in a campaign blitz in the state.
However, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was nowhere to be seen in the campaign trail.
Gadkari, together with former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti, carried out a whirlwind electioneering with rallies at half a dozen public meetings in four districts of UP, while former BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu teamed up with party MP Hema Malini to campaign in three districts on Tuesday.
Other star campaigners on Tuesday included former BJP chief minister Rajnath Singh addressing rallies in five constituencies, another former BJP chief Murli Manohar Joshi covering other five constituencies in Varanasi, Mirzapur and Jaunpur districts. Parliament Opposition leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley also addressed rallies.
The party's Gorakhpur MP Yogi Aditya Nath, who had been threatening not to take part in the electioneering in protest of the party entertaining the corrupt from other parties, also addressed half a dozen rallies on Tuesday, the BJP office in New Delhi said.
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