New Delhi, Jan 26 (IANS): Noted author Shantanu Gupta, who has written two bestseller titles on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, has started a multi-city book tour of the US from this week.

During the visit, Gupta will attend multiple events organised by the Indian diaspora and talk about his two books on Adityanath – ‘The Monk Who Transformed Uttar Pradesh' and ‘The Monk Who Became Chief Minister'.

Gupta said that a spiritual organisation, Om Kriya Yog, and World NRI Association along with many other Indian bodies are organising book discussion events in more than a dozen states/cities of the US -- in New York, New Jersey, Boston, Washington DC, North Carolina, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.

Gupta said that in the light of the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh, many non-resident Indians were curious and wanted to know about UP's growth story under a monk Chief Minister -- Yogi Adityanath -- and this book tour caters to that.

The author added that people have seen how Adityanath has taken Uttar Pradesh from a ‘Bimaru Pradesh' to a state which is first in the implementation of 45 Central government schemes, second in GSDP, second in Ease of Doing Business, among many other such positive indices.

Gupta said that in December last year, after the release of his book ‘The Monk Who Transformed Uttar Pradesh', he did two big online launches of his book for the Indian diaspora in Europe and Australia.

In the book discussion organised by the overseas friends of the BJP for the diaspora in 13 cities of Europe, Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi and BJP's foreign cell head Vijay Chauthaiwale shared their thoughts along with author Gupta.

Trivedi applauded his college junior Gupta's work and added that Uttar Pradesh has seen a sea of positive change during Yogi Adityanath's tenure.

Ex-director at Infosys, Mohandas Pai, who has written the foreword for the book, has congratulated Gupta for his latest book tour of the US.

"When Yogi Adityanath took over as CM, Lutyens' Delhi exploded in anger and derision," Pai said.

"They questioned his capability to be CM, abused him roundly, and predicted the total failure of his regime. They forget that he was a five-time MP, a person of great accomplishment as an MP going by his track record in the Parliament, who had toured most districts of UP and knew the living conditions of the people of UP more than any of his critics," he added.

"Uttar Pradesh was disparaged as ‘bimaru' and was known for governance based on identity politics rather than all-around development, ‘Sabka Vikas'. Shantanu Gupta's book is an important contribution to how an effective leader, rooted in India's ancient ethos while looking for apt solutions for contemporary times, can bring about real change," said Sankrant Sanu, Founder-CEO of Garuda Prakashan, the publisher of the book.

Mata Rajyalaxmi of Om Kriya Yog said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is training new sets of next generation leaders under him, and Yogi Adityanath is one of them.