Attacking Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in the wake of the Lokayukta indicting him on the illegal mining issue, Left parties on Thursday demanded his resignation, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party leader has no moral authority to continue in his office.
According to Gandhi's lawyer Kashi Prasad Shukla, the Congress MP, who appeared before special judge Shubham Verma, said he never made a statement against anyone that could lead to a case of defamation.
Ruling parties held sway in most of the 13 states in the assembly byelection results declared on Saturday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies wresting seats in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and the Trinamool Congress sweeping West Bengal.
After losing both the seats in the by-polls of the Karnataka legislative assembly, state Pradesh Congress Committee's working president D K Shivakumar and Leader of Opposition Siddaramiah resigned from their posts on Thursday. The two leaders resigned after accepting the moral responsibility for the party's defeat in Kadur and Gulbarga. The Bharatiya Janata Party won the Kadur seat while the Janata Dal Secular won the Gulbarga seat.
Member of Parliament Rajeev Chandrasekhar, while discussing the elections says in this interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa that the BJP will look back at their term as a squandered opportunity because of personal ambitions and dissidence.
Condemning the attack on students at a home-stay in Mangalore allegedly by members of the Hindu Jagran Vedike, the Congress on Monday said intolerance and violence has been on the rise in Karnataka ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2008.
If there is one party which is exuberant, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party which feels the swing is in its favour. Apart from capitalising on the sympathy wave it has in the state, the Gujarat victory will be a big fillip for the party.
Judging by the narco analysis report of Mohammed Asif, the medical student recently arrested in the state, it does seem so. Based on this report, Intelligence Bureau officials told rediff.com that leaders of the banned SIMI are having second thoughts about making Karnataka their base
A last-ditch attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party high command to resolve the ongoing crisis in the Karnataka government appears to have failed, with the rebel state ministers -- Tourism Minister Janardhan Reddy, Revenue Minister Karunakar Reddy, Chairman of Karnataka Milk Federation Somashekhar Reddy and Health Minister B Sriramulu -- sticking to their demand for the removal of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.
In a major embarrassment to the Bharatiya Janata Party's Karnataka unit, Pranab Mukherjee, United Progressive Alliance's candidate who was on Sunday elected President of India, got more votes than expected in the BJP-ruled state.
A couple of independent MLAs led by Vatal Nagraj of the Vatal party said that it is not correct to form the government especially when a petition seeking disqualification of the JD-S MLAs is pending before the speaker.
The Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party Elders' Forum, an informal group of party veterans, today said it would release a list of tainted ruling party Members of Legislative Assembly and ministers and threatened to field honest candidates if tainted ones were given tickets to contest in the next assembly elections.
Amid stepped-up pressure on him by the BJP-JD(S) combine to consider its claim for government formation in Karnataka, Governor Rameshwar Thakur on Sunday said he was yet to take a decision in this regard
Party sources said United Progressive Allinace chairperson Sonia Gandhi is likely to reach Delhi on Wednesday from Himachal Pradesh and is expected to meet some leaders who are part of the decision-making process in Karnataka.
With this, the Cabinet will reach its full strength of 34.
Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar is optimistic about the Bharatiya Janata Party's chances in the forthcoming assembly elections.
Weighed down by anti-incumbency, the BJP heavily banked on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal appeal to enable it to sail through in the assembly elections but it was not to be.
To up the ante of its ongoing poll campaign in Karnataka, the Congress is planning to release a 'chargesheet' to document all the 'wrong-doings' of leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Karnataka leg of Advani's yatra called off
Veteran Congress man and former chief minister of Karnataka Veerappa Moily believes that his party will win a comfortable majority.
Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party rebel candidate B J Puttaswamy's nomination papers for the March 30 Rajya Sabha election have been rejected for violation of the office of profit clause, an election official said on Wednesday.
U T Khader of Congress on Tuesday won the Ullal Assembly seat in Karnataka, defeating his nearest rival Chandrasekhara Uchil of Bharatiya Janata Party by a margin of 8,032 votes, official sources said.
Troubled times for the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka seem to have come to an end as the 11 rebel members of legislative assembly have decided to be part of the B S Yeddyurappa government. After nearly two days of negotiations with rebel MLAs in New Delhi, it was decided that the time has come to provide a stable government in Karnataka.On Sunday, the rebel legislators stated that they had no demands from the ruling BJP government.
Rebel Janata Dal-Secular leader M P Prakash on Monday held consultations with party legislators supporting him to chalk out the strategy of the group, which is opposing the renewed ties with Bharatiya Janata Party on government formation in Karnataka.
As the Election Commission announced a single phase poll for the Karnataka assembly on May 5, the focus shifted to finalisation of candidates by principal political parties -- the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular, which have already shortlisted nominees in majority of seats.
After the conclusion of the mammoth rally by former Chief Minister B S Yedyurappa at Haveri in north Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka has said that there was no danger to their government, and it would complete its full term.
In the run-up to the Karnataka assembly elections, neither the Congress nor the Bharatiya Janata Party has left any stone unturned. Both parties have ensured that their star leaders --- Congress's Rahul Gandhi and BJP's Narendra Modi -- campaign in the state
There seems to be a wave of uncertainity in the state of Karnataka on whether JD-S will hand over power to its coalition partner, the BJP on October 3.
Shivakumar was scheduled to leave for Delhi on Monday but cancelled the travel plans citing ill-health.
The BJP was unable to win any seat in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala besides Puducherry in 2011.
With parliamentary elections round the corner, the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka 'poached' two MLAs each from the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) in the last three days. While the number of new entrants into the BJP stands at four, party sources told rediff.com that the number is likely to go up to at least 10 as feelers have already been sent to the Siddaramaiah camp.
The Bharatiya Janata Party replaced at least 25 sitting MPs with new faces as the party released its second list of 72 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Wednesday.
There appears to be no solution in sight to the ongoing crisis in the Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party with the Reddy brothers -- comprising state Tourism Minister G Janardhan Reddy and Revenue Minister G Karunakara Reddy, who are spearheading a faction to oust BS Yeddyurappa from the CM's chair -- refusing to settle for anything less than a leadership change in the state.
In his report, he blames the Karnataka government entirely for the church attack fiasco. In this interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Justice M F Saldanha says that there is not a single incident of conversion that has taken place in Karnataka. He further goes on to add that Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa holds a public office and cannot continue to behave like a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha pracharak.
Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka over the border row, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Friday said Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa is heaping 'grave atrocities' on Marathi people in the neighbouring state."Marathis are being assaulted with sticks and guns and beaten up like cattle. If the Karnataka government wants to display its masochism by attacking Marathi people, it should remember that Maharashtra is land of Shivaji Maharaj," fumed Thackeray.
It is not clear whether Kumar would continue in the Union Cabinet or resign to take up party work.
Several ministers of the Basavaraj Bommai-led Bharatiya Janata Party government, and the assembly speaker, lost the elections, the results of which were declared on Saturday.
Dhananjay Kumar questions the functioning of the BJP, and alleges that the party is being selective. He questions why a senior leader such as Ananth Kumar not been acted against when he so easily took down Yeddyurappa on mere allegations, in this interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
A last-ditch attempt to retain former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa in the Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party has failed.
If you want to know what just happened in the state but were lost in the political quagmire, do not worry.