'Deep down, it betrays a transactional view of politics. That, to get, the voter must give,' argues Krishna Prasad.
The portfolios were cleared by Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the exercise had turned out to be tricky for the party state leaders.
"K C Venugopal is a buffoon, I feel sorry for him, I feel sorry for my leader Sri Rahul Gandhi ji," Baig told reporters.
Siddaramaiah asserted that the Karnataka government was a 'strong' one and ridiculed state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa for repeatedly claiming that the coalition will collapse.
Among the three Deputy Chief Ministers are Govind Karjol, who has also been given the charge of PWD and Social welfare; Ashwath Narayan the portfolio of Higher Education, IT & BT, Science and Technology; and Laxman Savadi with Transport department.
To beat BJP, you either deny them a critical mass of Hindu vote or build a regional leader and party strong enough to protect their turf, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The missive to the chief minister came as the MLAs were reportedly shepherded to Mumbai last night and kept in a five-star hotel to apparently prevent them from being poached for the June 11 biennial polls to four RS seats from the state.
On Friday, four of the 14 legislators had visited the Siddhivinayak temple in central Mumbai and offered prayers to Lord Ganesh.
The legislators were camping in Mumbai since Saturday evening after resigning and withdrawing support to the 13-month-old Janata Dal-Secular-Congress government in Karnataka, bringing it on the verge of collapse.
Extensive arrangements have been made due to the COVID-19 pandemic including personal protective equipment kits for election staff, more polling booths, thermal screening, sanitisers, masks and gloves for voters and markings to ensure social distancing, officials said.
Unfazed by Yeddyurappa's unceremonious exit, the BJP on Thursday fielded its senior leader S Suresh Kumar, a fifth term MLA, for the post of the Speaker whose election will precede the trust vote.
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.
Karnataka, by reposing its faith in BSY, remains a Hindutva stronghold, reports R Rajagopalan.
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy held discussions with Congress leaders after the meeting.
'The Congress must honour the mandate. The mandate is clearly for the BJP.'
The Congress said that a chief minister "has to be always happy".
Speaking after the core committee meeting, Yediyurappa said the disqualified MLAs have expressed intention to join the party on Thursday and they would be given the membership.
In a Facebook post, Jaleel himself confirmed that he had put in his papers. "I am happy to say that those who had been baying for my blood can be relieved for now. I have submitted my resignation to the chief minister. Since the past two years, I have been facing a media onslaught," Jaleel, second minister in the LDF ministry to resign on nepotism charges, said in the post.
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Union minister Thaawarchand Gehlot on Sunday took oath as the 19th Governor of Karnataka succeeding Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala.
'The BJP had no traction in Karnataka and Siddaramaiah would have scraped through if he had not done all that he did.' 'When you pander to one community, the other community gets irritated.' 'Then, when you make fun of the cow and the treating of the cow as sacred, in your effort to belittle the Sangh Parivar and its obscurantism, you are hurting your normal voters too.' 'It is okay to make fun of the Sangh Parivar, but it is not okay to make fun of all Hindus.'
The BJP MLC, who had switched his loyalty from the Janat Dal-Secular to the BJP two years ago, alleged that the "entire state" including ministers, had been talking about Vijayendra's interference in the administration.
The apex court made it clear that it would deal with the constitutionality of the Governor's letter inviting Yeddyurappa to form the government later.
Sources close to the CM, however, say he would not be too interested in such an offer as it would look as though he is desperate to cling on to power.
The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday decided to promulgate an ordinance to give effect to the contentious law against religious conversions.
"The government should handle it delicately and follow what was done in Hyderabad," former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy said.
Kumaraswamy predicted that the political instability would continue in the state.
According to some accounts, internal Congress surveys indicated a tough battle for the chief minister in Chamundeshwari.
The confidence motion moved by Kumaraswamy was defeated with 99 members voting for the motion and 105 against it in a House of 225 including speaker P R Ramesh Kumar and a nominated member.
The Congress may stand a better chance in the assembly polls if it followed the 'Himachal model', suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
Another disqualified rebel MLA from Maski, Pratap Gowda Patil, asked the voters in a video message not to panic and said they were confident of emerging victorious in the Supreme Court.
What kind of chowkidari is Narendra Modi doing, asks Rahul.
Kumaraswamy, who also holds the finance portfolio, said he has limited the loan amount to Rs 2 lakh, as it was 'not right' to waiver higher value crop loan.
Kumaraswamy rejected a charge by the saffron party that he was trying to poach their lawmakers.
In a notice issued to Congress MLAs, CLP leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah warned that absence of MLAs at Friday's meeting would be viewed 'seriously'.
According to Congress sources, few ministers from the party have even offered to step down in the larger interest and to keep the coalition intact.
The names of both Maregowda and Puttaraju had figured in the list of missing Janata Dal-Secular workers tweeted by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday.
Late selling in realty, PSU and infrastructure stocks mainly dragged the market from early highs.
"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.
He also said that the bypolls results of this state are a message for all those states where anyone betrays public mandate.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were among the 16 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha from four states where polling was held on Friday after tussle over cross voting and alleged breach of election rules delayed the counting by around eight hours in Maharashtra and Haryana.
