Mangaluru: The BJP candidate for the Mangaluru Lok Sabha constituency and sitting MP Nalin Kumar Kateel met senior Congress leader B Janardhana Poojary on Sunday, March 24 and sought his blessings for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Poojary gave Nalin his blessings and wished him success after the latter joined his hands and touched his feet. Later, while speaking to reporters, Poojary opined that Mithun Rai would not secure the win, inspite of being the Congress’ preferred candidate. “The prevailing situation is against the Congress and favourable to the BJP only. They will win here twice more as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come up with various development works,” he said.
Meanwhile, Poojary stated that he would campaign for Mithun Rai, if the high command asks him to do so. “It is my responsibility to participate in the election campaign, if the high command asks me to get involved,” he said.
After taking Poojary’s blessings, Nalin said that this was not the first time that he sought the former’s support. “When I contested against Poojary twice, I had met him and sought his blessings. Poojary is a very honest and good leader and I have great respect for him”, he said.
It can be recalled that Nalin had contested for the first time against Janardhana Poojary in the year 2009 and secured a huge win with a margin of 40,420 votes. The second time, Nalin won with a margin of Nalin 1.43 lakh votes against Poojary.
Prior to meet Poojary, Nalin had offered a special prayer at Kudroli Gokarnanatheshwara temple.
