Lucknow, April 16 (Inditop) Gorakhpur would emerge as the “centre of nationalism”, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee and chief of the rightwing Hindu Vahini Yogi Adityanath said Thursday after casting his vote from the eastern Uttar Pradesh constituency.

“We are very positive about winning and have vowed to make Gorakhpur the centre of nationalism,” Adityanath told reporters after casting his vote at the polling centre in the Gorakhnath Primary school in Gorakhpur, about 270 km from Lucknow.

Adityanath, who represented Gorakhpur in the last Lok Sabha, is also the founder chief of the Hindu Vahini, a hardliner Hindu fundamentalist organisation that commands a large following in many parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

In his view, the BJP would get 35-40 of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 seats.

“Development and countering terrorism are the two main issues on which our party is contesting the elections and the two key issues will help us in our victory.”

The main contestants from this seat are Bhojpuri singer and Samajwadi Party candidate Manoj Tiwari Mridul and Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) Vinay Shanker Tiwari.