Karnataka: Kateel dismisses reports of his resignation as BJP chief
The confusion started after Kateel said in Ballari that his term had already been completed and the process for his replacement had started.
Bengaluru: The president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Karnataka unit, Nalin Kumar Kateel, on Saturday dismissed the reports of his resignation as rumours, saying that such reports were far from the truth.
In a statement issued in Bengaluru, Kateel clarified that he had not resigned as the party’s state president. During an interaction with reporters in Ballari, Kateel took the moral responsibility for his party’s defeat in the assembly election last month.
Kateel, a member of parliament (MP) from Dakshina Kannada, said he had already explained to the party leaders about the reasons behind the rout. “Regarding the appointment of a new state president, the party will take the right decision at an appropriate time. However, I did not say anything about my resignation as the party’s state president. My statement has been misconstrued,” the BJP state president said.
The confusion started after Kateel said in Ballari that his term had already been completed and the process for his replacement had started.
As former minister V Somanna expressed his wish to become the BJP state president, the MP said: “I don’t have any aspirations but my term has been completed. In fact, both my terms have been completed.”
“Naturally, the state president has to be replaced because one person can be a president for two years. This time it was for three years but I have served for four years – once as temporary president and then as a full-time president,” he added.
According to Kateel, he was asked to continue due to the Assembly election. “Already, the process of my replacement has started,” he told reporters.
With regard to Somanna’s wishes, the BJP state chief said the former minister is a senior leader who has made a request and has expressed his desire. There is nothing wrong with having aspirations but the final decision will be taken by the BJP central leaders, he added.
Somanna, who lost the Assembly election against chief minister Siddaramaiah in Varuna constituency and also from Chamarajanagar, on Friday appealed to the party leadership to make him the state president of the BJP.
Somanna said his sacrifices are more than anyone else’s as he could have easily won the election from Govindaraj Nagar in Bengaluru but contested the tough elections from the constituencies he was not familiar with.
Given his sacrifice, the party should consider making him the BJP state chief. He also said that he has 45 years of political experience and has faced many elections while being in the BJP for the past 15 years.
This confusion comes as the BJP Karnataka unit is yet to decide on the leader of the opposition for the legislative assembly and the council.
People familiar with the matter said that former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, along with senior leaders Basangouda Patil Yatnal and Arvind Bellad, are among the contenders for the position of leader of the opposition in the assembly. However, the party is also considering Vijayendra for the post and is interested in selecting a leader from the OBC or Dalit communities for the role.
Reacting to the statement, Congress MLC Jagadish Shetter, who quit the BJP before the elections said: “As per the information available to me, there is a big unrest within the BJP. I don’t know when it (the differences) will explode. There is no attempt to create any problems, but they themselves have internal problems.”
(With inputs from PTI)
