The chief priest of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on Monday said it is good that Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath is not contesting the state Assembly polls from this seat as he would have faced a lot of opposition.

Acharya Satyendra Das said he had earlier suggested that Adityanath should contest from Gorakhpur as people whose houses and shops were demolished here due to infrastructure projects in the wake of the construction of the temple were opposing him. “It’s good that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is not contesting from here. I had suggested it earlier and advised that it will be better that he contest from any seat of Gorakhpur,” said Das. Meanwhile, a prominent seer said a saint can’t be a CM, in an apparent reference to Yogi.