The Bharat Mata controversy in Kerala shows how political and symbolic fights between the state and the Centre have taken attention away from education, throwing the state's oldest university into confusion and disorder, observes Shyam G Menon.
Even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was defeated in the Karnataka assembly elections, the party retained its traditional stronghold in the coastal region by securing victories in 11 of the 13 constituencies in the twin districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.
Four Cabinet ministers and 8 ministers of state are to be dropped and the same number of ministers likely to be inducted in Prime Minister Narendra D Modi's council of ministers.
These few and far between 'sops for votes' are the reason why the Jenu Kuruba community, which is fighting the government for decades for even the basic amenities -- like land rights, access to water and electricity -- bother to cast their votes, said J K Thimma, head of the settlement.
In the manifesto for the polls released in Bengaluru by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in the presence of the state unit chief D K Shivakumar and Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and others, the party reiterated its five guarantees: Gruha Jyothi, Gruha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya, Yuva Nidhi and Shakti.
The revised salaries of MPs are significantly lower than the salaries drawn by top bureaucrats in the country.
Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Tuesday reiterated that upcoming assembly elections will be his last electoral battle, but he will remain active in Karnataka politics.
The five-state assembly elections are seen as a now-or-never, no-holds battle for the Congress, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP had earlier demanded that the elections should be held by February 2008. However, the election was delayed as the voters' list in the state had to be revised. The state BJP has said that it will explore all means, including legal ones, to ensure that polls in Karnataka are not delayed beyond May 2008.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Monday questioned Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party chief K Annamalai's intention to criticise the party despite being in the alliance, and said it will be forced to rethink its ties with the saffron party if Annamalai is not restrained.
The Karnataka police do not seem to have learnt its lesson. While there are arguments over the terror alert that was issued four days before Wednesday's blast outside the Bharatiya Janata Party office in Bangalore, the one major aspect that they had forgotten was the Hubli blasts which took place during the 2008 elections.
'They sent a message that I will not be given the ticket and ordered me to issue a statement -- Gujarat style -- that with immediate effect I was retiring from politics.' 'They were treating me like a political novice who would be pushed around on the order of vested interests.' 'This rude behaviour hurt a lot. It was then I spontaneously decided that I will challenge this dictatorial order and expose all those who want to hurt Lingayat pride in Karnataka.'
Apparently aimed at keeping the flock together ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls, all ruling Congress MLAs in Karnataka will stay put together at a hotel in Bengaluru on Monday after the budget session of the state legislature concludes and will later also travel together for voting the next day.
Weighed down by anti-incumbency, the BJP heavily banked on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal appeal to enable it to sail through in the assembly elections but it was not to be.
"Before January 15 next year, when the election will be one year away, we are planning to select candidates for at least 150 assembly constituencies, so that they can start working," Kumaraswamy told reporters.
The party has not applied the "one-family, one-ticket" formula for the Karnataka polls which it followed in the Punjab polls held last year.
The BJP Legislature Party meeting is scheduled for Friday, during which the election of its leader, who will also be the Leader of Opposition in the assembly, is likely to be announced.
The launch of a new party by former Karnataka minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy has spiced up the poll scene in parts of state.
'Some of his ministers have performed abysmally, and Bommai has faced an unwanted campaign of religious polarisation imposed by national BJP leaders.'
Amid simmering tension at the Karnataka-Maharashtra border, the police on Monday foiled the Madhyavarti Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti's (MMES) mega protest in Belagavi and detained its leaders even as several members from opposition parties from Maharashtra were stopped from crossing the border.
Mounting a fresh attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday alleged that for the sake of vote bank politics, it has nurtured, given shelter and surrendered before terror.
Eshwarappa would turn 75 in June, the unofficial age bar in the BJP for leaders to contest polls and hold official positions.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, former chief minister B S Yediyurappa, IT industry veteran N R Narayana Murthy along with wife Sudha Murty, and Mysuru royal family member 'Rajamate' Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, were among the early voters who cast their ballot in the Karnataka Assembly polls.
Party sources said United Progressive Allinace chairperson Sonia Gandhi is likely to reach Delhi on Wednesday from Himachal Pradesh and is expected to meet some leaders who are part of the decision-making process in Karnataka.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said if the Congress comes to power in Karnataka, dynastic politics will be at an all-time high in the state and it will be 'afflicted with riots'.
Shivakumar said, "Mahayuti leaders should visit my state to see how Congress' welfare guarantees are benefiting people."
With assembly elections due in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram in the next few months, the Congress is working on poll strategies in these states and has convened a meeting of state leaders on May 24.
'We will win all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in 2024.'
Months before the Haryana assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party replaced its strongman Manohar Lal Khattar as chief minister with low-profile OBC leader Nayab Singh Saini, a decision that surprised many.
With its age-old fascination for education, southern states have done better than the North. Start-ups, IT hubs, and industry majors setting up shop have changed the face of the South. Nearly 79% of global offices set up by international conglomerates in India are in the South. Almost 46% of tech unicorns are from the South. The GDP per person in the South is 4.2 times higher than the North. None of these indicators can be ignored by any central government, whatever the political compulsions, notes Ramesh Menon.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was also in Karnataka on Thursday to take part in a programme for the 115th birth anniversary of Sri Shivakumara Swamiji at the Siddaganaga Mutt in Tumakuru.
Another issue on the party's agenda is the expansion of the ruling NDA, which has seen steady depletion in the recent years with traditional BJP allies like the Janata Dal-United and Akali Dal leaving the grouping.
The leader, who has been sulking for some time now due to repeated denial of election tickets, said he would convene a meeting of his supporters next month to announce his decision on whether or not he will stay with the Congress.
The BSP is contesting on 20 seats in Karnataka election with an alliance with Janata Dal-Secular while the SP is contesting on 27 on its own.
Adequate security and Covid safety measures have been put in place for the electoral exercise.
A new cabinet in the state will be in place in the next 48-72 hours.
In a significant move, the Centre on Wednesday announced that caste enumeration will be part of the next population census, with the inclusion of caste details for the first time since independence hailed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies as a historic step to help design truly equitable and focused policies.
Announcing the fifth poll 'guarantee' of the Congress ahead of the May 10 assembly polls in Karnataka, party leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday promised free travel for women in public transport buses, if it's voted to power in the state.
The grand old party is looking to retain power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while seeking to come to power in the other three states going to polls -- Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram.
Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar on Monday said the party's national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has agreed to campaign and spend time in the state, for the assembly elections next year.
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