BJP MP Nalin Kumar Kateel has clarified that he has not resigned from his position of Karnataka BJP president on Saturday, June 24. Speaking to reporters in Ballari, Nalin Kateel said that he was taking ‘moral responsibility’ for BJP’s defeat in the Karnataka elections that concluded last month.
“Our national team will think about it (my position) and make a decision,” Nalin Kateel said.
The BJP in Karnataka lost the assembly elections after it managed to win only 66 seats in the 224-seat Karnataka Assembly. The party is now the principal opposition in the state and is yet to appoint a leader of the opposition in the Assembly. Nalin’s imminent resignation has set off speculation about the leader who will replace him.
The MP from Dakshina Kannada constituency, Nalin Kateel was elevated to the role of BJP state president in August 2019, replacing former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa.
Nalin Kateel has often faced the wrath of BJP supporters in Karnataka. A Hindutva hardliner who had little clout outside of his home district of Dakshina Kannada, Nalin Kateel’s appointment as state president raised eyebrows within the BJP in 2019. He was seen as a bridge between the then Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and BL Santhosh, BJP’s national general secretary (organisation). He was also derided for the delay in the completion of the Pumpwell flyover in Mangaluru, which was inaugurated in 2020 after a delay of over ten years.
In July 2022, angry Hindutva supporters surrounded and pushed the car ferrying Nalin Kateel when he visited the family of BJP Yuva Morcha member Praveen Nettaru, who was murdered in Bellare in Dakshina Kannada district.
Prior to the elections in the state, Nalin Kateel was criticised for a statement in which he asked people to prioritise issues like ‘love jihad’ over development. ‘Love Jihad’ is a right-wing conspiracy theory, which alleges that Muslim men deliberately marry Hindu women to convert them into Islam.
Recently, Hindutva supporters in Puttur protested against Nalin Kateel and a banner with photos of Nalin and former Karnataka chief minister Sadananda Gowda was garlanded with chappals. Two police officers in Puttur were suspended after they assaulted the men accused of displaying the banner demeaning Nalin Kateel. The banner was put up by supporters of Hindutva leader Arun Kumar Putthila, who is an aspirant for the BJP ticket from Dakshina Kannada in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.