Amidst a severe water crisis, the Karnataka Water Supply and Sewerage Board banned the usage of drinking water for car washing, gardening, construction, water fountains and road construction and maintenance. It also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000, if the order is violated.
According to party sources, the Congress leadership has been making efforts to convince some ministers and lawmakers to contest, as they have faced problems in identifying winnable candidates in several segments.
Modi's BJP has promised more revdis or freebies for these assembly elections than ever before, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee DK Shivakumar termed the step "unconstitutional"
The Bharatiya Janata Party had won 30 of the total 50 seats in the region in the 2018 assembly polls, followed by Congress 17, Janata Dal-Secular 2, and others (KPJP-Shankar) 1.
According to some observers, the Congress gained ground by attracting votes from Telugu Desam Party sympathisers after the TDP opted out of the race due to its own reasons.
The controversial issue of Muslim girls wearing 'hijab' in educational institutions, which had hit national headlines last year with a government pre-university college in Udupi banning it inside classrooms, does not appear to be a serious campaign issue for the May 10 elections to the Karnataka assembly.
'The central BJP leaders were determined to push Hindutva hard, and it failed.'
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said his statement on 'Shakti scheme' was distorted and presented as if the Congress government in the state wanted to withdraw it.
The current public mood is that it will be a hung assembly. No one, not even in the BJP, is talking about even a simple majority for the party.
EPS has had its way on most things, alliance-wise. A week earlier, he reiterated that he would not re-admit OPS and Sasikala Natarajan back in the party. It was a message not just to detractors in the AIADMK. It was even more so for the BJP leadership in Delhi. Even more important for the AIADMK was their demand for accepting EPS as the chief ministerial candidate of any alliance that the party would form, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'That was my mistake.' 'Gautam Adani was not involved in forming the Maharashtra government.' 'Adani was not there in the meeting.' 'The meeting was at his guest house and we were sitting in his guest house.'
Karnataka's legislator from Bharatiya Janata Party, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, has claimed that he was approached by some people offering him the state chief minister's position, in exchange for Rs 2,500 crore.
In the advisory to political parties, the poll authority also emphasised on "clean and serious" campaign as electioneering reached feverish pitch in the southern state.
Shah said the development of the state will be on the "reverse gear" if the Congress forms the government.
What does election data say about the electoral support the competing parties in Karnataka have? Abhishek Waghmare find out.
'The wife will not only abuse her husband for giving her less money, but also abuse the government.' 'Look at the price of a cooking gas cylinder, it is Rs 1,200.'
'There were deep discussions within the Sangh Parivar before this decision was made.' 'They were convinced, and only then did the Modi government proceed with the caste census.'
'The Congress must honour the mandate. The mandate is clearly for the BJP.'
Out of 224 seats in the state, the Congress is projected to take 114 seats, a "slender but clear majority", gaining 49 seats over the 2004 assembly elections, the poll says. The poll predicts a major setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is hoping to capture power in the state, as it projects the party winning only 60 seats, a decline of 19 seats for it from last time around.
'Shivakumar is an andhbhakt of Congress ideology and principles.'
K Siddaramaiah, who led the Congress to victory in the May 5 assembly elections in Karnataka, took oath as the state's 22nd chief minister on Monday.
In an election where every seat will matter, micro-strategising is going to be the order of the day. And in such a situation, party infighting - in all parties --could lead to unpredictable results.
The first of the two-phase urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh will take place on Thursday, a major poll battle in the politically crucial state ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections.
Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party strongman and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday said his son and party's state Vice-President B Y Vijayendra will be contesting 2023 assembly polls from his Shikaripura constituency, which he will be vacating.
'Corruption overshadowed Modi's roadshows.' 'As the BJP did not deliver any of their promises, people stopped believing him.'
The electoral fortunes of top leaders-- Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai of the BJP, Congress heavyweights Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar and JD-S' H D Kumaraswamy, among many others will be known on Saturday.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, will not be restored even if Congress stalwart and late PM Indira Gandhi comes down from heaven.
Five Congress legislators on Wednesday threatened to resign if senior party leader and minister K H Muniyappa's son-in-law Chikka Peddanna was given a ticket to contest from Kolar in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, bringing into open the divisions in the outfit.
However, he claimed that this was a fight to save the party and its ideology and to make Narendra Modi Prime Minister once again.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions for the prime minister ahead of his rallies in Karnataka.
If the DMK is able to sustain the momentum until the assembly polls, the AIADMK especially and the PMK and possibly the infant TVK too would find it hard to sign up with the BJP, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Opposition is also expected to target the Eknath Shinde-led government on shifting of mega projects like Foxconn to Gujarat, according to political observers.
The Congress on Thursday renamed the Rahul Gandhi-led Manipur-Mumbai yatra starting on January 14 as the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which will travel through 100 Lok Sabha segments in 15 states including Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted it will prove to be as 'transformative' as his earlier cross-country march.
While Wadiyar, scion of the erstwhile Mysuru royal family, is making his political debut from the Mysore Lok Sabha segment, Lakshmana is state Congress spokesperson and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's confidant.
The Election Commission Wednesday decided to defer proposed by-polls to three Lok Sabha and eight assembly seats in view of the prevailing coronavirus situation in the country.
Dubbing as 'farcical' the time of 15 days given by Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala to Yeddyurappa to prove his majority, the Tamil superstar, who is set to enter politics, said that it should not have been done.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and senior leader Jairam Ramesh were among the 10 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha on Friday from Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, while counting was underway in Maharashtra after an eight-hour delay due to wrangling by rival parties over alleged breach of voting rules.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has called for tough decisions and unity within the party after the Congress suffered electoral defeats in Maharashtra and Haryana. In a meeting with top party leaders, Kharge highlighted the need to strengthen the organization from the grassroots, fix accountability, and address internal bickering. He also urged leaders to remain united and avoid public criticism of each other. The Congress chief expressed concern over the party's performance in state elections despite a strong showing in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. He acknowledged the need to learn from the setbacks and improve the party's strategy and communication to counter its rivals' propaganda.
For the first time, a presiding officer was declaring in public what decision he will be taking, the Rajya Sabha member said.
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