The Karnataka Assembly polls are the new battle field for political stalwarts of Uttar Pradesh including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati, who will be criss-crossing the state to turn the tide in favour of their respective parties.


Adityanath will be addressing as many as 35 rallies and road shows as the Nath sect, to which he belongs, wields considerable clout in coastal Karnataka, BJP sources said today. The UP CM's hectic Karnataka tour will begin on May 3 and end on May 10.


Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav will also be touring the state.  The SP has fielded over two dozen candidates in Karnataka. The party president will be campaigning there for our candidates. The tour details will be finalised in a day or two," SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury told PTI. When asked specifically as to whether Akhilesh will campaign for the Congress too, Chowdhury said, "He will campaign for SP candidates only as of now."


The Congress and the SP had contested the UP Assembly polls last year jointly, but had contested the civic body polls in the state independently. BSP supremo Mayawati, whose party has entered into a pact with former prime minister HD Deve Gowda's JD(S), has already started working in the state with her rallies starting yesterday from Mysuru. She will be addressing a rally in Chitradurga today and Belagavi and Bidar on May 5-6 respectively. The BSP is contesting on 20 seats in Karnataka and is hoping to open an account there with the JD(S) support.


Polling will be held in a single phase on May 12 for all the 224 Assembly seats in the Congress-ruled state, including 36 reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes.