PREMIER LEAGUE

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath continues to catch the fancy of the people across India; Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik remains the most popular in home state 

- KAUSHIK DEKA

On August 19, when actor Rajinikanth called on Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow, he chose to touch the mahant-turned-politician's feet. The action may have earned the southern superstar the ire of social media trolls, but the fact that he decided to watch his newly released film Jailer with a north Indian chief minister, apparently in a bid to promote it, speaks volumes about the popularity of Yogi Adityanath.

The latest India Today Mood of the Nation (MOTN) poll only attests to this fact. When respondents across all states were asked to rate the performance of the 30 chief ministers in India, 43 per cent of them, up from 39.1 per cent in January, rated Yogi as the No. 1. With just 19 per cent respondents backing him, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal stood a distant second.