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.
Both the BJP and the Congress have their share of challenges, with finding winning horses on top of this list.
The Congress urged Chief Justice Dipak Misra to hold an urgent hearing on Wednesday night itself.
Gandhi came along with Mukherjee and while the former president left after sometime, the Congress chief offered to drop him back but Mukherjee politely refused.
Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy also dismissed reports that a section of MLAs of their parties were unhappy over their joining hands in government formation.
Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi held a virtual meeting on Friday evening with leaders of 19 Opposition parties, including the chief ministers of some Opposition-ruled states, amid efforts to boost Opposition unity and evolve a common strategy against the National Democratic Alliance government.
They are the contenders, the leaders of parties that will finally form a government in Karnataka.
Amul's move is being seen by many, especially opposition parties, as a threat to KMF's famed dairy brand 'Nandini'.
'Entire process of meeting individual legislators of Congress party has been completed with great bohemia.'
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.
Congress Legislature Party leader and Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coordination committee chief Siddaramaiah said no one would leave the Congress and there was no disgruntlement either.
Murmu's vote share is now likely to go past 61 per cent, while it was earlier estimated to be around 50 per cent at the time of her nomination.
Priyank Kharge on Wednesday said criteria and frameworks are being decided for its implementation.
Rediff Labs analysed the past performance of the parties to develop this Sentiment Meter for the 2016 Kerala election.
Sources said that despite senior leaders making serious attempts to convince him to rethink on his decision, Gandhi is said to be unfazed.
In 2019, actor turned-politician Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent backed by the BJP, won by defeating then Kumaraswamy's son and joint candidate of the then ruling Congress-JD-S alliance Nikhil by 1,25,876 votes.
The incident led to a political confrontation between the government and Opposition in the state.
Both the Independent legislators were absent on the first day of the session.
Voting came to an end for the Karnataka assembly elections on Wednesday at 6 pm with data showing a voter turnout of 65.69 per cent an hour ago.
Kumaraswamy rejected a charge by the saffron party that he was trying to poach their lawmakers.
As the Opposition held its first meeting on the Presidential polls and names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi also cropped up, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice with senior party leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal).
Azad and Gehlot have reached Bengaluru and have met chief minister Siddharamaiah and other party leaders.
Karnataka Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi on Wednesday sent his resignation letter to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa following allegations of sexual harassment against him.
"A new era of development will start from now onwards," said BJP's Karnataka president B S Yeddyurappa soon after the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition government lost the confidence vote.
The MLAs visited the famous Siddhivinayak Temple after which they had their lunch at south Indian restaurant-bar "Dakshin Culture Curry" and a typical Marathi/ Konkani food Junction "Diva Maharashtracha". Both restaurants are adjacent to each other and are owned by Dr Suhas Awchat.
The BJP and Congress have already launched spirited campaigns for the elections.
It was meant to be a healthy debate ahead of the Lok Sabha elections but had to be called off due to a major verbal duel.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said if the Congress had formed an alliance with the Janata Dal-Secular before the election, the results would have been different.
The cabinet expansion is on the cards for nearly two months ever since the BJP won the maximum number of seats in the December 5, 2019 bypolls and got a majority in the Karnataka assembly.
"The central paramilitary forces have arrived in the city. One is from Bengaluru, another being grouped from Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Mysuru," Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner of Police (West division) Sanjeev M Patil said.
With Janata Dal-Secular state president H D Kumaraswamy repeatedly attacking him and his son Yathindra, a former Congress MLA, accusing them of a 'cash for transfer' racket, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said he will retire from politics, if proved that he has taken money, even in a single transfer case of government officials.
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.
He gave the time-line while taking note of the adjournment of the House till Friday after it took up the confidence motion moved by Kumaraswamy in the backdrop of rebellion by a section of ruling Congress-Janata Dal (Secular).
The Bharatiya Janata Party has taken a jibe at Kumaraswamy over his Singapore visit to celebrate the new year, at a time when most parts of the state are reeling under drought.
' Modi is for the entire country, not just for Karnataka. He had come for campaigning here. The Congress might have won in Karnataka but has seen defeat across the country. Is it the win of local leaders or state leaders?'
The case relates to protests near the I-T office in Bengaluru by the leaders including the then chief minister H D Kumaraswamy against the income tax raids at the residence of Congress and JD-S leaders.
The Congress on Saturday demanded the dismissal of the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka following leak of an audio clipping in which Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa purportedly can be heard mentioning the disqualification of rebel Congress-Janata Dal-Secular MLAs and alleged involvement of the saffron party's central leadership. "How the BJP misused power and money was exposed yesterday. Now people have to judge them," he said. Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah also attacked the BJP, saying what the party had done was "a conspiracy to murder democracy and a violation of the Constitution".
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.
'Why is the entire Cabinet running around in Bangalore?' 'Why are they making arrangements for horse-trading?' 'Is this not the BJP's greed for power?' 'They have won the entire country. Why are they so desperate for Karnataka?'
Congress leaders were in for a rude shock on Monday when the media sidelined their much-touted Jawaharlal Nehru birth anniversary event, and instead turned its full attention to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was addressing thousands of supporters in Sydney's Allphones Arena
