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Not aspiring for Karnataka BJP chief role, says CT Ravi
BJP leader CT Ravi on Sunday denied of having any aspirations for the post of president in party’s Karnataka unit
Bharatiya Janta Party leader CT Ravi said on Sunday that he is not an aspirant for the post of president in party’s Karnataka unit. The development comes a day after the leader was dropped from BJP’s team of national office bearers, fuelling the speculation that he could be in line to be the next Karnataka BJP president since incumbent state president Nalin Kumar Kateel’s tenure has ended, and the party is yet to announce a replacement.
Talking to the reporters in Bengaluru, Ravi said: “I don’t know if I’ll be given the post of the state president. I’m now the former national general secretary of the BJP”.
“The post of state president is a huge responsibility. One can’t get it by asking. I’m not aspiring for it, and I don’t know about the future. The senior leaders will decide to whom the post should be given and when,” Ravi said.
Talking about his removal from national general secretary’s post, Ravi said that no post is permanent. “They have given (me) several posts. I have always been an activist and I will remain one. I will always work with the same sense of service,” he added.
The BJP’s Saturday rejig of its national team of office-bearers and dropping of Ravi from the post of national general secretary came after the party’s defeat in the recently held assembly elections in Karnataka. The party is also yet to decide on Leader of the Opposition in Karnataka assembly more than 75 days after the election results were declared.
Now, BL Santhosh, the party’s national general secretary (organisation), is the sole representative from Karnataka.
Ravi, a staunch Hindutva ideologue and a four-time MLA from Chikkamagaluru, is from the politically dominant Vokkaliga community. He recently lost the recent assembly election to Congress’s HD Thammaiah.
Ravi’s meeting with former chief minister BS Yediyurappa on July 19 after a bitter phase between the two is also being seen as an indication of the former getting the new role, a party leader in the know of the development said.
A week back, Janata Dal (Secular) chief HD Deve Gowda had indicated that Ravi would be made the state BJP chief, along with senior BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal. However, Ravi at that time had said: “Deve Gowda is a veteran. When he says something, it will be based on authentic information. But let me clarify that I am not an aspirant for the post of state president. As for my meeting Yediyurappa, it was only a courtesy call.”
Meanwhile, former Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said that the party will appoint a state president soon. “The BJP will appoint a state president as soon as possible,” Bommai said.
Apart from CT Ravi, Bommai, Yatnal, CN Ashwath Narayan, C Sunil Kumar, and V Somanna are also in the race for the post.
