MANGALURU: The ‘porngate’ scandal that rocked Karnataka involved three MLAs. While Laxman Savadi is now a Deputy Chief Minister and CC Patil is a cabinet minister, the third, Krishna Palemar had all but disappeared from public life. Now he is trying hard to stage a comeback to active politics.
Palemar’s presence at the charge-taking ceremony of Nalin Kumar Kateel as BJP president in Bengaluru on Tuesday has raised many eyebrows in BJP after he was denied a party ticket to contest from Mangaluru North assembly constituency in the last elections and had openly hit out at Nalin Kumar Kateel, holding him responsible for the denial of ticket.
Many within the BJP had thought that party candidate Y Bharath Shetty’s victory from Mangaluru North had put an end to the political career of Palemar. However, BS Yediyurappa’s comeback as Chief Minister and Savadi’s elevation despite losing the last election has reportedly raised Palemar’s hopes.
A senior BJP leader said Palemar is seriously lobbying for an MLC post that will fall vacant next June. He said his association with Yediyurappa may help him to an extent in this regard but any such move will be strongly opposed by RSS and Kateel, who is now at the helm of party affairs in the state.
Sources said RSS played a key role in the denial of ticket to Palemar in 2018 election and in all likelihood will do the same even now as Palemar has made no efforts to improve his relations with the organisation after it turned sour.
Another leader said that given the unexpected developments in BJP, it is not surprising if Palemar gets a chance to become an MLC. “Despite losing the 2013 election by just over 5,000 votes, he was denied a ticket in 2018. This was also because porngate taint refused to leave him despite a clean chit by a Legislature Committee. Now, with the other two getting plum posts, it is difficult to refuse a position to Palemar,” the leader said. Palemar was not available for comment.