• Yogi Adityanath's outreach: Do an 84km pilgrimage, take a motorboat ride, visit temples, meet eminent Hindu citizens, take along a retinue of ministers, MLAs, bureaucrats, 100 party functionaries and 50 cops in a convoy of 30-plus cars.

• Trivendra Singh Rawat's outreach: Meet college students, visit two temples, a mosque and a gurdwara along with a single MLA, a handful of aides and about 10 cops in a convoy of half-a-dozen cars.

Lucknow: His saffron robes weren't the only visible sign marking Yogi Adityanath out as a Hindutva mascot as opposed to his Uttarakhand counterpart, Trivendra Singh Rawat, as the two BJP chief ministers spent last weekend boosting their party's public relations with the upcoming general election in mind.

Their respective itineraries for their "Sampark for Samarthan (Contact for Support)" programme and their choice of eminent people to call on emphasised contrasting priorities, just as the different sizes of their entourage and security reflected contrary styles.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister devoted two days to the outreach but focused on a single venue, the temple town of Varanasi. Rawat's single-day initiative included a 200km drive to Udham Singh Nagar, where he addressed college students in Nanakmatta, apart from his contact programme in state capital Dehradun.

Adityanath led a motorcade of 30-plus vehicles into the Panch Kosi Parikrama, an 84km pilgrimage around Varanasi, on June 9 before praying on the Ganga's ghats.

With him were minister Neelkanth Tiwari, four party MLAs and one from ally Apna Dal, over 100 BJP officials, a principal secretary, the Varanasi divisional commissioner and at least 50 police personnel.

Adityanath later took a ride on a decked out motorboat from Manikarnika to the Assi Ghat, continuously waving at the curious crowds on the banks.

On June 10, he visited the Garhwa Ghat Ashram, met its head priest Swami Sharananand, and offered jaggery to the cows there.

He then met over a dozen eminent citizens at their homes to seek their support for the BJP ahead of the general election --- the chief purpose of the Sampark for Samarthan campaign.

Among them was the veteran doctor Saroj Churamani; Hindi teacher and pro-Hindutva writer Surendra Pratap; a member of the Sri Kashi Vishwanath Mandir Nyas Parishad, Chandramauli Upadhyaya; and senior advocate Radheyshyam Chaubey.

Sources said the streets leading to these notables' homes had been cleaned and beautified over the past three days for the chief minister's visit.

Adityanath didn't meet a single non-Hindu in a city where Muslims make up more than a fifth of the population. Nor did he contact any of the city's famed practitioners of Hindustani classical music or ayurveda.

Trivendra sought support from every community. He visited the Jangam Shivala temple in Dehradun and met Mahant Mayagiri before heading to the Jama Masjid and participating in an iftar party with Shahar-e-Kazi Mohammad Ahmad Qasmi.

He then drove to the Kalika Mandir and spoke to Mahanth Bal Yogi before ending his low-profile programme with a trip to the Jhanda Chowk gurdwara, where he met Mahant Devendra Das Ji Maharaj. Just one MLA accompanied him along with a few aides and the barest of security.

A source in the Uttarakhand government said: "We were told, 'Don't follow the chief minister wherever he goes'. Besides routine security, nothing special was done for his contact programme."

Rawat, during a 22-minute speech to college students in Nanakmatta, said his government's aim was poverty eradication. He promised to develop Nanakmatta as a tourist spot and announced plans for a mini-stadium and a parking lot in the town.

In Varanasi, Adityanath walked a few hundred metres barefoot over a red-and-green carpet before announcing Rs 101 crore for the development of the Panch Kosi pilgrimage.

A Lucknow-based BJP politician outlined the difference between the two chief ministers from neighbouring states.

"Adityanath knows to stay in the news whereas Rawat is a silent political worker. We use the Yogi's image of a holy man during campaigns in other states. He wears the natural anger of a sadhu on his face and it generates curiosity in people. He is a Hindutva showpiece we can experiment with," he said.

"But Rawat has a people-friendly style. We don't experiment with him --- we know he is the backbone of the party."

Adityanath showed no inclination to experiment with backbones in Varanasi, though.

Dr T.K. Lahiri, cardio-thoracic surgeon and professor emeritus at the Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, had declined to entertain the chief minister at his home.

He told officials on June 10 that he could meet Adityanath in the outpatient department of the medical college because "I have to attend to my patients there."

Adityanath did not meet him.