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'.
Three of the fence-sitters rule fairly large states Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha that together send 63 members to Lok Sabha -- where the Congress or other opposition parties have been pushed to the margins.
A day after fielding Mohammed Yousuf Savanur as its candidate from Shiggaon in Haveri district, the party nominated Yasir Ahmed Khan Phatan in his place.
"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.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna passed away at his residence in Bengaluru early Tuesday morning, his family said.
No chief minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party and Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal-Secular could manage to complete the full term in Karnataka.
Pawar has summoned a meeting of party leaders in Mumbai on Saturday to finalise its plans for the assembly elections in Karnataka scheduled for May 10.
A Special Court in Bengaluru on Wednesday ordered a Lokayukta police probe against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case.
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.
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.
Uday K M, also known as 'Kadalur Uday Gowda, was welcomed into the party fold in the presence of state Congress president DK Shivakumar.
On whether injustice has been done to Dalits by not giving a DCM post to the community, he said the people, especially the Dalit community, have huge expectations.
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).
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.
Modi was born on September 17, 1950 in a small town in Gujarat.
Amid deepening fissures in Kumar's ties with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, BJP leaders have indicated that they are open to tying up with him again.
Modi enthusiastically waved at a large number of cheering crowd, who had lined up on both sides of the route, as the ruling BJP appeared focused on winning a good number of seats in Old Mysuru region, where it is traditionally weak.
Police said 52 people have been arrested following Wednesday night's incidents and prohibitory orders preventing the assembly of more than four people have been imposed in Nagamangala town in Mandya district till September 14 as a precautionary measure.
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.
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.
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).
'There is no problem to the government. It will complete (its tenure). You get tensed due to reports in media. It is not like that. '
According to the surveys, the Janata Dal-Secular could emerge as the kingmaker in the May 12 election.
He said he has directed police to identify, trace and secure the victims in view of the alleged kidnapping of a victim at Krishnaraja Nagar town in Mysuru district.
Prajwal Revanna's former car driver Karthik and Bharatiya Janata Party leader G Devaraje Gowda accused each other of leaking the alleged sleaze videos of the Janata Dal-Secular Hassan MP which has caused a big embarrassment to the regional party.
"We have a commitment before the people of Karnataka. Parliament elections are ahead. So, I have to bow to the AICC president and the Gandhi family. In the larger interest of the party (I have agreed to the formula) and why not, because sometimes the ice should break. Ultimately, there is a responsibility towards what we have a commitment to the people of Karnataka and we have to deliver," he said.
Speaking to reporters after attending the MVA meeting at NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence 'Silver Oak' in Mumbai, Patil said the MVA -- comprising the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, the NCP, and the Congress -- will work out a seat-sharing formula ahead of the Lok Sabha and the Maharashtra assembly elections, due in the second half of the next year.
Banners have come up in front of Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar's residences in Bengaluru, erected by supporters, congratulating them for Congress win and projecting them as "next CM".
'The Muslims in Karnataka are safe and secure. The state government belongs to everybody.'
The Opposition Congress on Saturday seemed to be on course to breach rival Bharatiya Janata Party's lone southern citadel Karnataka, inching towards the magic figure of 113 needed to form a government on its own.
Congress leaders and workers from Kolar have been exerting pressure on the Congress legislature party leader to contest from there.
The juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said he will not hesitate from facing investigation in a site allotment issue but added that he would consult legal experts to find out whether such a probe is allowed under law.
The state is mainly witnessing a three-cornered contest between the ruling BJP, the Congress and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular).
Kumaraswamy's meeting with the Congress chief comes in the backdrop of voices of dissent gaining ground in the ruling coalition in the southern state after two Congress MLAs met former chief minister S M Krishna at his Bengaluru residence on Sunday.
The Congress-Janata Dal-Secular coalition faces the threat of losing its majority in the assembly if the resignations are accepted as its current tally is 116 in the 224 member House.
Can Nitishbabu create an anti-BJP phalanx like Jayaprakash Narayan did in 1977 or will his efforts come undone by Opposition leaders' political ambitions and, of course, the BJP's agency-aided campaign of intimidation?
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.
The exit polls on Saturday predicted the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance winning most of the seats in Congress-ruled Karnataka in the Lok Sabha elections and the Congress not putting up a good show.
The Janata Dal (Secular) has offered to join the National Democratic Alliance, provided the BJP allows H D Kumaraswamy continue as Karnataka chief minister for the next 20 months.
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