New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has emerged as the leader most in demand after Narendra Modi for the BJP's Gujarat campaign, signalling the party's desperation to polarise the polls as well as the saffron-robed politician's subtle rise as a Hindutva mascot.

Yogi, mahant of the Gorakhpur temple, has already been campaigning for the December Assembly elections more intensively than any other BJP chief minister.

But he has been asked to spare more time because of the huge demand from party candidates who are battling anti-incumbency, BJP managers said.

"There is a big demand from party candidates for Yogiji. A large number of people from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are settled in Gujarat and Yogiji is hugely popular among them. So he has been asked to campaign extensively," a BJP leader said.

Yogi is scheduled to be used in a big way in Surat in south Gujarat that has a big population of people from north India, particularly Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

This is also a region where the BJP has angered traders as well as workers from north India following the Centre's demonetisation drive and the goods and services tax that has led to job losses.

Party sources said the plan behind fielding Yogi for the election campaign was to assert the Hindutva card to tide the party over this simmering anger.

They said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was still the tallest "Hindu hriday samrat" in his home state but Yogi had emerged as a more vibrant and aggressive Hindutva face.

The BJP has been desperately trying to polarise the Gujarat election, which is evident from the controversy surrounding Rahul Gandhi's visit to the Somnath temple in the state.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya had tweeted that Rahul finally "comes clean on his religion" after it was reported that the Congress leader's name was written in a register meant for non-Hindus.

Yogi, who was occupied with local body elections in his home state, flew to Gujarat on Tuesday after campaigning closed in the heartland on Monday.

Even in the middle of the Uttar Pradesh campaign, Yogi was in Surat on Sunday.

Other chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, such as Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Devendra Fadnavis of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, have also been campaigning in Gujarat but none of them is as sought after as Yogi, party leaders said.

The Uttar Pradesh leader on Thursday campaigned in Jamnagar and Porbandar in the Saurashtra region.