'Free this and free that, and the voters were with them.'
The JD-S supremo reiterated that his grandson should be given the harshest punishment under the law "if found guilty".
It is possible to be blind to this and pretend to carry on as if nothing has happened but that will not change the reality, asserts Aakar Patel.
Several pollsters have predicted that the Congress may have an edge in Karnataka, which is BJP's southern citadel, in a hung assembly with a couple of them even projecting that the grand old party may get a majority on its own.
The Janata Dal-Secular on Thursday petitioned Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, seeking his intervention recommending a CBI probe into the sexual abuse charges against Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna.
'The result was announced by the officials at the Counting Centre at S S M R V College in Jayanagar late tonight,' a state Information Department official said in a statement.
Addressing election rallies in the district headquarters towns of Shivamogga and Raichur, Gandhi alleged that the prime minister was in the know about the sex scandal and he could have got Prajwal arrested within seconds but allowed him to flee the country.
Those joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers for the first time include three former chief ministers -- Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana) and H D Kumaraswamy (Karnataka).
'The BJP's numbers in this government are almost the same as those enjoyed by the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao when the reform process was kicked off in 1991.' 'As before, the only constraints on the prime minister's actions are internal, not external.' 'They come from his own assessment of the political consequences of any action,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
Rediff Labs has developed a Sentiment Meter for the 2023 battle of Karnataka.
The high-level committee on 'one nation, one election' approached 62 parties out which 47 responded -- 32 in support of holding elections simultaneously, 15 against it.
Prajwal Revanna, the suspended Janata Dal-Secular MP facing sexual abuse allegations, was arrested on Friday upon his return from Germany, a month after he left the country in the wake of explicit videos of his alleged actions doing the rounds in Karnataka's Haasan.
"Sometimes Sachin Tendular scored a century, sometimes he got out for Zero," Biswa said while reacting to party's loss in Karnataka.
The Rajya Sabha election scene in Karnataka heated up with the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (Secular) combine fielding its second candidate, even though the alliance has the strength to win only one out four seats.
"I will personally on Friday, May 31 at 10 am will come before the SIT and will cooperate with the investigation and will respond to it (charges). I have faith in court and I am confident I will come out of false cases through court," Pajwal said in a video statement aired on Kannada TV channel Asianet Suvarna News.
Close to half of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats are bracing for multi-cornered fight this time, making the contest way more interesting and intense than it was in the 2019 elections.
Doddamani has maintained a low profile; he has always worked actively behind the scenes in managing and strategising for Kharge's successive electoral campaign.
'In Kerala, we are part of the government and our MLA is a minister there. These units understood the situation that made us to go with the BJP and supported our move. Our minister in the Left party's government (K Krishnankutty) in Kerala has given consent to us'
'Pura phas gaya woh... barbad, satyanash ho gaya woh.' 'Usko ticket bhi diya, election bhi ladha woh; ganda video bhi bahar aa gaya; hamara izzat bhi nikal diya woh; abhi letter ke baare main pooch ke kya hota hai?'
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.
With six children of Karnataka ministers in the Lok Sabha poll arena, the campaign scene is getting spiced up in the high-stakes elections for the ruling Congress in the state.
Parameshwara said the chief minister had written a letter to the prime minister on the issue, and added that cancelling Prajwal's passport after a warrant is issued against him is the Centre's duty.
The bill was defeated by a voice vote on February 23 in the upper house, where the Opposition has a majority, after it was passed by the assembly on February 21.
Seeking clarification, Karnataka Governor has sent back to the government a bill that sought to collect funds from temples with over Rs 10 lakh annual income, citing that a case concerning the earlier related act and amendments made to it is still pending in Supreme Court.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and a strong team of Union ministers figure in the list of the party's 40 star campaigners for Karnataka assembly elections next month.
Nikhil Kumaraswamy is Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy's son. He is also former prime minister H D Devegowda's grandson. Nikhil will contest the May 10 assembly election in Karnataka from the Ramanagara constituency.
The police said the child was shifted to a hospital in Indi where he was given preliminary treatment and was later shifted to a district hospital. He is currently stated to be stable, they said.
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.
It also asked why the data shared pertained to a period from April 2019 even though the scheme for anonymous political funding was introduced in 2017.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
Polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
'This decision to go with the BJP is Kumaraswamy's individual decision and not a party decision.'
Shivakumar was scheduled to leave for Delhi on Monday but cancelled the travel plans citing ill-health.
Accusing Bharatiya Janata Party of attempting 'Operation Kamala' to destabalise his government, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday asserted that they will not be successful in their efforts, as none of the Congress legislators will fall victim to it.
From steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal to billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and a lesser-known Future Gaming and Hotel Services were among the prominent buyers of the now-scrapped electoral bonds for making political donations.
"Yediyurappa's yesterday reaction is his personal reaction. Until now, there has been no discussion on seat sharing or anything. We have met cordially two or three times. Later on, let us see what is going to happen," Kumaraswamy told ANI.
Security was stepped up in Ramanagara, Shivakumar's home district, on Wednesday as a precautionary measure in light of his supporters staging protests at multiple places after some media outlets claimed that he lost the race for the chief minister's post to Siddaramaiah.
The Congress' victory in the Karnataka assembly polls is likely to help the party get its candidates elected in three of the four Rajya Sabha seats from the state falling vacant next year.
"Is being part of Modi's 'political family' a 'guarantee of protection' for criminals?" Rahul Gandhi asked.
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
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