GORAKHPUR, Aug. 18 -- Chief minister Yogi Adityanath led the Janmashtami celebrations at the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur late on Saturday night. Yogi, who arrived here from Lucknow after offering prayers at Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura, performed special midnight rituals inside the sanctum sanctorum. At the stroke of midnight, he placed the idol of Laddu Gopal (infant Lord Krishna) in the decorated cradle, marking the divine birth of Lord Krishna. Before performing the rituals, the CM offered obeisance at Guru Gorakhnath's shrine and paid respects at the samadhi of the late Mahant Avaidyanath. He later joined the devotional gathering at the Mahant Digvijaynath Memorial Hall, where he listened to soulful bhajans, blessed children dressed as Radha and Krishna and distributed chocolates and toys among them. The highlight of the evening was the dance performance by actor-cum-BJP MP Ravi Kishan on devotional songs. Renowned folk singer Dr Rakesh Srivastava and his team, including singers Punita Srivastava, Hridaya Tripathi, Lakshmi Gupta, and Vikas Mishra, captivated the devotees with melodious bhajans. The temple premises remained packed with devotees until late into the night. The main ritual began at 11:32 PM and concluded shortly after midnight. Gorakhnath temple's head pujari Yogi Kamalnath, Santosh Das alias Satuwa Baba of Varanasi, BJP MPs Ravi Kishan and Vijay Dubey (Kushinagar), BJP state vice president Dr Dharmendra Singh, MLAs Vipin Singh and Pradeep Shukla, Mahant Raju Das of Hanumangarhi (Ayodhya) and Mahant Ravindra Das of Kalibari were prominent among those present....