Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar opposes Pramod Muthalik's entry into BJP

NAGPUR: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today opposed the induction of Sri Ram Sene founder Pramod Muthalik into the BJP and asked for cancellation of his membership.

Parrikar who was here today to campaign for the BJP said that he had conveyed his opposition to national leadership of the party without specifying his name.

The development came shortly after Muthalik, who was linked with an attack on women at a pub in Mangalore in 2009, joined the BJP today in Hubli, Karnataka.

Muthalik was welcomed into the party in the presence of Karnataka BJP president Prahalad Joshi, former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar and former Karnataka deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa at a formal ceremony in Hubli.

The hardcore Hindutva leader faces several cases, including one relating to promoting enmity between two communities.

Later, Muthalik told reporters, that he had joined the BJP to ensure that Narendra Modi becomes the country's next Prime Minister.

BJP leaders also feel his entry would benefit the BJP in other parts of the Dharwad district as well as neighbouring districts.

He has had a love-hate relation with the BJP, since the saffron party had accused him of misusing Modi's name to raise funds.

He joined the RSS in 1975 and the Shiv Sena in 2005, but left the latter in 2006.

This is the first time he is officially being associated with the BJP.