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Poster campaigns emerge against BJP president in Dakshina Kannada
A poster in Kannada reads; “Along with Hindutva, we need the development of Mangaluru and for this, a leader with a long-term vision.”
BJP Karnataka unit president Nalin Kumar Kateel has found himself at the receiving end of criticism from people, believed to be his own party workers, over the lack of development in Dakshina Kannada despite it being a Hindutva bastion.
A campaign poster calling for Kateel’s ouster before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mangaluru, scheduled on September 2, is also doing the rounds. A poster in Kannada reads: “Along with Hindutva, we need the development of Mangaluru and for this, a leader with a long-term vision.”
A senior BJP leader in the district, requesting anonymity, said: “For the last one month, especially after Praveen Nettaru’s murder, workers are demanding for his removal openly. Will these people talk if there are no grounds to do so? Like how there is no smoke without fire.”
Kateel could not be reached for comment.
However, others are not ruling out a growing wave of dissent against Kateel, who has found himself in the middle of several serious allegations, including one in which ill-gotten money was laundered through cryptocurrencies.
Known to be a close confidante of BJP national general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh, Kateel’s rise as the state president in 2019 had come as a surprise, but as a move to balance out the power equation which relied heavily on BS Yediyurappa, the then chief minister.
The dissent against Kateel came out in the open recently after the murder of BJP youth wing worker Nettaru on July 26. Kateel’s car was waylaid and several right-wing workers demanded that he be sacked from the party and his position as member of parliament.
People aware of the developments said this is the handiwork of fringe elements within the right-wing ecosystem in the communally sensitive district.
“There has been no problem with development in Dakshina Kannada and all eight assemblies in the region are with Kateel. The prime minister is coming to inaugurate the SagarMala initiative which can be partly credited to Kateel. And even Mangaluru is part of the smart city initiative,” said Sudarshan Mudabidre, Dakshina Kannada district BJP president.
Kateel’s term as BJP president has expired and the party is yet to announce a replacement who will shoulder the burden of getting it back to power in 2023 assembly elections.
It has been difficult, especially since the murders and piling allegations of corruption against chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and lack of development under his ternure.
“Right from 2019, when the BJP had come to power in Karnataka, the BJP state unit had a series of failure. Volunteers have become worser than that of football on the ground for leaders. He is kicked between the two fractions in the party. Which way to go? He’s frustrated (sic),” Chakravarty Sulibele, a prominent pro-Hindutva voice and ardent supporter of Modi, said in a social media post in July.
