2023 Karnataka Election: 5 Points About Pramod Muthalik, Chief Of Shree Ram Sene

The Karnataka Assembly election is scheduled to be held on May 10 in a single phase. The results will be declared on May 13. The southern state is currently ruled by the BJP which came to power after the collapse of the Congress-Janata Dal Secular alliance in 2019. Now, Karnataka is set to witness a three-cornered fight between BJP, Congress, and JD(S) in the upcoming Assembly election. Besides candidates fielded by these three parties, some Independents will also be in the fray including Pramod Muthalik, the controversial chief of the Shree Ram Sene.

Here are five points about Pramod Muthalik:

• Pramod Muthalik is the chief of the right-wing outfit Shree Ram Sene. In 2014, he joined the BJP in Karnataka months ahead of the national election but was removed within a few hours after the central party rejected his membership.
• A controversial figure, Pramod Muthalik was accused in the 2009 attack on women in a Mangalore pub. He was acquitted, along with all other accused, in 2018. He once also led a campaign against Valentine's Day celebrations.
• In August 2014, Pramod Muthalik and his associates were banned from entering Goa to prevent them from disturbing the peace in the state.
• Pramod Muthalik has announced that he will contest the 2023 Karnataka Assembly polls as an Independent candidate from the Karkala seat. Mr Muthalik will face Karnataka energy minister and BJP MLA V Sunil Kumar, who represents the Karkala constituency in Udupi district, a BJP stronghold.
• Pramod Muthalik recently stoked a controversy again by promising employment and security to young Hindu men if they lure Muslim girls in response to Hindu girls being “exploited in the name of ‘love jihad'”.