New Delhi: Hindu seer Swami Paripoornananda, who founded the Hindu Vahini and heads the Sree Peetham mutt has joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the upcoming December 7 Assembly elections in Telangana.

Though the seer has indicated he is open to contesting elections, BJP president Amit Shah on Friday said the party will use the seer for campaign.

Soon after joining the party, he told mediapersons, he would work as a ‘sevak’ (worker) of the BJP with zero expectation and spread its message to southern parts of the country. There was no immediate confirmation on whether the seer who has also penned a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the face of the party in the state, where assembly was dissolved six months before its tenure.

A senior party functionary said the seer “has clout” similar to that of Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh. A five-time MP and the head of the powerful Gorakhpur Math, Yogi Adityanath was picked as chief minister after the BJP won with a thumping majority. The seer, who was recently externed from Hyderabad by the police for his alleged incendiary statements, was given a rousing welcome by his supporters after the Hyderabad High Court suspended that order. On July 9, the Hyderabad city police had placed Swami Paripoornananda under house arrest after he announced his intention to take up a three-day yatra, to preach on protecting the Hindu dharma.