MANGALURU: When Nalin Kumar Kateel replaced DV Sadananda Gowda as BJP candidate for Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha seat in 2009, many thought that the party’s decision isn’t wise. Then just the general secretary of party’s district unit, Kateel proved them wrong by winning by more than 40,000 votes against Congress veteran Janardhan Poojary. After that, there has been no stopping his victory march.
Given his humble background, Kateel’s political journey is spectacular. Hailing from a village in Sullia taluk, he finished his schooling at St Philomena’s School in Puttur and joined an ITI course. But poor family conditions forced him to drop out and work in the construction industry to support his family.
Kateel who was a regular at RSS shakas got an opportunity to attend basic camp. Soon, he was made a pracharak to spread the organisation’s ideology in the district and hence was also closely associated with temple matters like its renovation and organising its religious rituals which saw him emerge as a Hindutwa leader. After joining BJP, he came into the limelight with his association with a ‘yaga’ held at Pavanje which drew people from far and wide. All this, ultimately catapulted him to the MP seat with the blessings of BJP and RSS leaders.
The opposition always mocked him by raking up personal issues like his education and poor knowledge of Hindi and English. But Kateel answered his detractors by being one of the top MPs to ask the maximum questions in the parliament and spend the MPLAD funds.
Compared to many other MPs, he stands out as a grassroot politician because of his easy accessibility to the people. Trained in the RSS, he is a strict disciplinarian and makes it a point to reserve atleast two hours a day to meet his constituents at Circuit House and his office located at DC office complex whenever he is in Mangaluru. While in Delhi, he is always busy meeting union ministers and bureaucrats to get new projects for his constituency and speed up the existing ones.
He is no stranger to controversies and is known to make controversial remarks with the recent one being undermining the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. As a third time MP, Kateel has the responsibility of fulfilling some of the long pending demands like making Mangaluru a railway division, improving air, railway and road connectivity, putting an end to illegal import of arecanut, generating employment by bring in more industries among others. He is fully aware of people’s expectations and is making efforts not to disappoint them.