The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance was surging ahead in two southern states -- Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka -- while the respective blocs led by the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu and Congress in Kerala were on their way for another excellent show, going by the latest trends emerging from the counting of voted polled in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls.
Besides the four Left parties, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Telugu Desam Party, Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal, Janata Dal-Secular and Indian National Lok Dal "have decided to call for a country-wide hartal on July five", a joint statement by top leaders of CPI-M, CPI, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Forward Bloc said in New Delhi.
Shrirang Barne, an MP of Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, on Monday expressed disappointment over the party not getting a cabinet berth in the newly-formed Narendra Modi-led government and alleged partiality.
Raut said that the victory of the Congress in Karnataka has opened a door for the party in the whole country and the election results show that dictatorship has been defeated.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretariat meeting held at the party headquarters AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, has finalized the name of party candidates fighting the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.
According to the latest head count by Congress's managers, the United Progressive Alliance has only 271 seats in the Lok Sabha, though the requisite majority in the 545-member House is 273. For the ruling party, the issue is not about saving the government, but about crossing the majority mark to send the decisive signal that the UPA enjoys a clear majority and has the moral right to continue in power, say sources.
Earlier, deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also the state party chief, also had separate meetings with Parameshwara and Jarkiholi.
"...I would appeal to him (Prajwal Revanna) to come back to Karnataka and face this investigation... If you have not done anything then why are you afraid, why did you run away? You have to face this situation," Kumaraswamy told a reporter in Bengaluru.
Janata Dal Secular chief H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday said that Biju Janata Dal chief and Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would definitely join the Third Front, following the split in the BJD- Bharatiya Janata Party alliance.Gowda said that he had spoken to Patnaik, who had assured him that he will join the Third Front unconditionally.When queried about the Third Front rally, which will be held in Bangalore on Thursday, Gowda said Patnaik would not be able to attend.
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.
Bharatiya Janata Party's B S Yeddyurappa will learn of his fate as Karnataka chief minister today as a trust vote will be held today in the Karnataka assembly. The trust vote comes after the Karnataka Governor had invited Yeddyurappa to stake claim to the government.
The total income of national and regional parties from unknown sources for 2020-21 stands at Rs 690.67 crore.
Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar's call to the National Democratic Alliance to project a 'secular' leader as the prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 parliamentary polls today drew flak from a BJP minister who dubbed him 'pseudo secular'.
The BJP may be in the Opposition in many states, but nowhere is it as divided as it is in Karnataka, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Amid simmering tension in Mandya over the removal of Hanuman flag from a 108 feet tall flagpost, the Keragodu village Panchayat Development Officer has been suspended.
Five candidates were in the fray for the four seats in the elections, including Janata Dal-Secular contestant D Kupendra Reddy.
M P Veerendrakumar, former state president of the Janata Dal - Secular, who quit the party following differences of opinion with the Communist party of India - Marxist over the allocation of Lok Sabha seats, has lashed out at his former ally.Veerendrakumar, who is also the managing director of leading daily Mathrubhumi, stated that the CPI-M leadership has become pro-capitalism and alleged that the party was trying to promote five-star hotels.
A case was registered by the police against Congress MLA Channareddy Tannur and his son Pampanagouda Tannur on Saturday after a Dalit sub-inspector allegedly died by suicide, following his transfer within seven months of posting.
"The Supreme court allowing us to contest election is important to us. We welcome it... We are politicians... This verdict is important to us," disqualified Janata Dal-Secular MLA from Hunsur A H Vishwanath told reporters in New Delhi.
Doddamani has maintained a low profile; he has always worked actively behind the scenes in managing and strategising for Kharge's successive electoral campaign.
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.
No chief minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party and Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal-Secular could manage to complete the full term in Karnataka.
Over the last few days, K R Ramesh Kumar has made all efforts to ensure the Congress-Janata Dal-Secular coalition stays in power, resulting in him being under tremendous pressure.
Kumaraswamy reiterated his desire to be the Agriculture Minister.
There are critics who say the Bommai's government was not able to counter the Congress narrative to paint his administration as corrupt, a factor that helped the Congress surge in the May 10 assembly elections.
At least five people were killed in separate rain-related incidents on Tuesday in Bengaluru, which has been reeling under incessant rains for the past three days causing widespread flooding in several residential areas and turning roads into virtual rivers.
Kumar Bangarappa and Madhu Bangarappa are pitted against each other in Soraba constituency in Shivamogga district, which was represented by their father from 1967 to 1994 till his election to the Lok Sabha.
Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Thursday said that only Shatrughan Sinha and Shahnawaz Hussain are secular leaders in the Bharatiya Janata Party.
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.
A meeting of the Congress legislature party (CLP) on Thursday formally elected Siddaramaiah as its leader and the next chief minister of Karnataka.
Ending days of suspense, the Congress on Thursday announced Siddaramaiah as the next chief minister of Karnataka and D K Shivakumar as his only deputy in the soon-to-formed cabinet.
As many as 13 Congress and three Janata Dal-Secular MLAs had resigned from the Karnataka Assembly in 2019 thus bringing down the 14-month-old coalition government of the Congress and the JD-S led by H D Kumaraswamy.
While the party's vote share jumped by more than four per cent, the Janata Dal-Secular saw a sharp fall of more than five per cent, according to Election Commission data on the assembly elections.
'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.
While the ruling BJP, riding on the Modi juggernaut, wants to break the 38-year jinx and retain its southern citadel, the Congress is seeking to wrest power to give the party much-needed elbow room and momentum to position itself as the main opposition player in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad challenged Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday to explain who is secular in the National Democratic Alliance. Lalu's comment came following Kumar's statement that the NDA should declare its prime ministerial candidate in advance and that the candidate should be a secular.
Official sources on Thursday had said the MEA is processing the Karnataka government's request to cancel Prajwal's diplomatic passport. Currently, he is believed to be in Germany.
Mandya's independent MP Sumalatha Ambareesh on Wednesday announced that she would join the Bharatiya Janata Party, thereby extending her support to the National Democratic Alliance candidate and Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
According to the surveys, the Janata Dal-Secular could emerge as the kingmaker in the May 12 election.
'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'