Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar supremo Sharad Pawar were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Tuesday to caste their votes in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress on Monday promised that a government led by it will conduct a nationwide caste census and implement 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies at the earliest, including adequate representation for women belonging to the OBC community.
He referred to the Modi government scheme providing five kilograms of ration to the poor every month and said, "The Congress brought the Food Security Act, you did nothing."
He claimed that people from all walks of life across the state were angry against this BJP government.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is visiting Karnataka, said he intended to shut all the madrasas (Muslim religious schools) in his state, as they were not needed in "New India".
The court directed the Congress to explain whether they were adhering to COVID norms such as wearing face masks, and maintaining social distancing.
Pandemonium prevailed in the Karnataka assembly on Wednesday with Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj K S Eshwarappa and State Congress president D K Shivakumar charging towards each other stopping short of coming to blows.
'The state government does not believe in disallowing non-Hindus to do business outside Hindu temples.'
The former Congress chief accused Modi of 'diverting public attention' through various means.
Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday questioned Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the Union Budget and claimed that the plates of all states except Bihar and Andhra Pradesh were empty in the budget allocation.
The BJP shifted Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shobha Karandlaje, who is currently representing Udupi Chikmagalur Lok Sabha segment, to contest from Bangalore North.
The Congress's loss in the three states in the North-East, a region it had dominated for decades, shows there is a lot left to do to reclaim its political turf despite the Bharat Jodo Yatra which it had touted as a successful experiment in mass public outreach.
The MLAs -- Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumtalli, Umesh Jadhav, and Nagendra -- did not ascribe any reason for not attending the opening day's session.
The canteens would provide breakfast at Rs 5 and lunch and dinner at a cost of Rs 10.
The ULB polls were also considered as indicative of the voters' mood before the next Lok Sabha elections.
Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara has asserted there were no lapses on the part of the government in handling cases relating to the alleged sexual abuse of women by Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna and that the Special Investigation Team was probing them from all angles.
The case dates back to August 2017 when the Income Tax department had carried out searches at multiple premises in Delhi as part of its alleged tax evasion probe against Shivakumar, his alleged business associate and liquor trader Sachin Narayan, another associate Sunil Kumar Sharma who operated a fleet of luxury buses, Karnataka Bhawan (Delhi) employee A Hanumanthaiah and former state government employee and caretaker posted at the Karnataka Bhawan Rajendra N.
Questioning Bharatiya Janata Party's locus standi to make such a demand, he asked the opposition party as to why it doesn't trust the police.
Mallikarjun Kharge has the stature, maturity and gravitas to lead a national party like the Congress with its rich history of struggle and myriad achievements, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
The Congress has been hit by rebellion and a three way split in Karnataka.
'The Congress president knows my concerns.'
Surprisingly, the BJP's nearest rival in ad spend was not the Congress, but the Bharat Rashtra Samithi.
The BJP was unable to win any seat in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala besides Puducherry in 2011.
The cobbler also said officials from various government departments also reached out to him to enquire about his problems ever since the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha made a surprise visit to his humble shop in the Vidhayak Nagar area on outskirts of Sultanpur, turning Chet into a local celebrity.
Ramesh, however, said it was too early to talk about all this right now as the Congress' first priority was the upcoming elections in Karnataka and the string of state polls this year.
The 77-year-old former Congress president is set to enter the Upper House for the first time from Rajasthan.
Ramesh told PTI that an east-to-west yatra, probably from Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh to Porbandar in Gujarat, was being considered but its format could be a bit different from the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The June 23 meeting of opposition parties, called by Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar, will see anti-BJP players chalk out a strategy for the Lok Sabha polls.
Caste was always a factor during the Karnataka elections. However, what surprised many was the manner in which the Lingayat vote bank tilted in favour of the Congress which ended up winning 67 out of the 118 areas dominated by the caste group in the state.
"Is being part of Modi's 'political family' a 'guarantee of protection' for criminals?" Rahul Gandhi asked.
A voter turnout of 60.19 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday with sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal.
Following this a Veearashaiva-Lingayat seer -- Srisaila Jagadguru Channa Siddharama Panditaradhya Swamiji on Friday said ministers from his community should be considered for the CM's post in case there is a leadership change, while also pitching for them to be given priority in the event of creation of additional Deputy CM posts.
Politicians across the political spectrum graced Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani's wedding ceremonies at the Jio World Convention Centre at the Bandra Kurla Complex in north west Mumbai.
Sitharaman added that no Union finance minister can play with the Finance Commission's recommendations.
Electorally, the yatra seems to have paid dividends in the south, but the march does not seem to be helping the Congress in stopping the BJP's surge in the Hindi-heartland states.
It goes without saying that it will put new heart into the BJP cadre to gear them up for the important electoral battles that lie ahead. Conversely, it will affect Congress morale. Barring Haryana, the party has not won any state election in recent months.
The complaint was lodged by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee member Ramesh Babu in connection with a tweet posted by Malviya.
"The nakli Shiv Sena wants to bury me alive. They abuse me in such a way that it will be liked by their favourite vote bank," Modi said.
Party stalwarts like Dharam Singh and Mallikarjun Kharge, however, seem to have no problem with the Congress teaming up with the JD-S, as they feel that their main efforts should be directed towards preventing the BJP from coming to power.
"If the FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) report proves that the slogan raised in favour of Pakistan is true, serious action will be taken in this regard. There is no question of protecting those who raised slogans in favour of Pakistan," the Chief Minister told reporters.
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