This Article is From Mar 24, 2014

Blog: The short Muthalik affair

Bangalore: One uncharitable tweet said Pramod Muthalik's time with the BJP was shorter than some celebrity marriages.

The marriage simile was repeated to us by some policemen on the highway to Hubli who stopped our car to check it. When they got to know we were from the media - they raised the topic of Muthalik - and one of them said, "It was like when a son marries someone against his parents wishes. And then they chase him away."

The son in this case - the Karnataka unit of the BJP who inducted the controversial Mr Muthalik apparently not only against the wishes of the parent party - but even without its knowledge.

What were they thinking? The local unit was certainly lying low the day after that short-lived and ill-fated entanglement. Unofficially we were told that even the few far-right Hindutva votes Mr Muthalik might bring in would be useful.

Karnataka gave the BJP 19 out of 28 Lok Sabha seats last time round and the target this time is 20. State party president Prahlad Joshi is standing from Dharwad and he would not have liked the thought of Muthalik contesting against him. Not that Muthalik has a large following - but sometimes, every vote counts.

But after a scolding from the elders in the family, the state unit stopped its warm overtures to Pramod Muthalik quite coldly.

And the man who did his best to stop celebration of Valentine's Day was unceremoniously left at the altar.

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