With the Supreme Court reversing the action of the Karnataka Speaker who disqualified 16 MLAs of which 11 were from Bharatiya Janata Party, the B S Yeddyurappa government finds itself in fresh trouble.
Almost three months after announcing his new party, former Karnataka minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy on Monday announced 'football' as its poll symbol, the first list of candidates, and also manifesto, ahead of the assembly elections due by May.
The biggest loser in the ongoing political tug-of-war between the Janata Dal-Secular and the Bharatiya Janata Party will be the state of Karnataka, which has incurred a loss of $5 billion in terms of business investments. Market pundits say that the perennial political instability in the state and indecision by the government in the past one year has lead to the loss of investment opportunities.
It was the end of the road for Karnataka Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda, who tendered his resignation to Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi. He will be replaced by Jagadish Shettar. Gowda is expected to return to Bangalore and hand over his resignation to the Governor.
The BJP is readying to run a tech savvy campaign in Karnataka to counter anti-incumbency, while the JD-S is also exploring using social media to promote its message. The Congress will only rely on star power to woo the voter. Vicky Nanjappa looks at how the campaign will pan out.
RSS ideologue M G Vaidya on Wednesday said it was beyond their imagination that the Bharatiya Janata Party will be decimated in Karnataka Assembly elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party was on Wednesday decimated in the Karnataka assembly elections with Congress set to form a government, may be on its own, wresting power after a gap of seven years.
Asserting that his government still enjoyed a majority even after 13 Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Legislative Assembly announced their resignations, Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Sunday said he was ready to face a No-Confidence Motion moved by the opposition. "I have majority. There is no threat to the government. I am ready to face a No-Confidence Motion if the opposition moves it," he told reporters.
The Governor's report comes four days after the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (S) staked a claim to form a coalition government. Congress has been pushing for dissolution of the assembly and holding of fresh elections. It is learnt that the Governor in his status report apprising the President, has referred to the petitions received by him from political leaders since October 7, the day BJP withdrew support to the JDS-led government.
Close on the heels of Congress axing Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan from the post in the wake of Adarsh Housing Society scam, five disqualifed Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs asked their high command to apply the same yardstick to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and seek his resignation.
Power minister and former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa loyalist Shobha Karandlaje is all set to announce her exit from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Rebel leader B Sreeramulu, a close associate of jailed mining baron G Janardhana Reddy, on Monday announced plans to float a new political party in Karnataka, three days after Bharatiya Janata Party suspended six of its elected representatives including two MPs for anti-party activities.
Arun Jaitley, in-charge of Assembly elections in Karnataka for the Bharatiya Janata Party, has indicated that at least 20 per cent of its MLAs in the outgoing Assembly may be changed during the next elections. He said the party was confident that the party would win the elections and form the government under the leadership of B S Yeddiyurappa.
Efforts to forge unity in the opposition ranks gained momentum on Monday with the Congress asserting that a 'vast majority' of non-Bharatiya Janata Party outfits will meet soon, after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met its president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi.
Despite the national executive's decision to suspend him, Kumaraswamy said he continued to be the legislature party's leader.
Karnataka may well see the return of a coalition government, thanks to the existing crisis. Sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party say that even if the high command manages to find a solution to this problem, it will be short-lived and the crisis could commence after three months.
The 61-year old leader will take oath as the Chief Minister of Karnataka from Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot at the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday at 11 am.
'Let anyone in Karnataka come forward and show that we have the licences to even a single square foot of land in the state,' challenges C V Nagesh, the Reddy brothers's lawyer.
Plagued by desertions, internal rifts, and with the image of being a "family party", it remains to be seen how Gowda's son and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy would steer the party in the May 10 assembly polls.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's comprehensive defeat to the Congress in Karnataka where the two parties ran a campaign of contrasts has left the ruling party much to ponder as the two rivals are facing a direct contest in three more state polls this year in the run-up to the all-important 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
A meeting that was meant to layout the roadmap for the Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party ended abruptly on Friday with some tough talk by party president Nitin Gadkari aimed directly at former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.
Cracks in the JD-S were evident when H D Revanna, who is the son of JD-S chief H D Deve Gowda did not go to Rashtrapathi Bhavan where both the JD-S and BJP MLAs were paraded before President Prathibha Patil.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Friday met Governor H R Bharadwaj at the Raj Bhavan reportedly to put an end to the bitter feud between them. A war of words had ensued between the CM and the governor after the latter asked Yeddyurappa to take a second floor test to prove his majority in the assembly. He had also pulled up the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government for not taking any action against its allegedly corrupt ministers.
He also announced unemployment allowance for the youth, as the party's fourth poll guarantee, on coming to power.
Following the Cabinet reshuffle in Karnataka, a major revolt has broken in the Bharatiya Janata Party with the powerful Reddy brothers terming Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa a "betrayer''.
The electoral predictions made by the various exit polls about the outcome of the Karnataka election seem to have hit bull's eye. The Congress has, expectedly, taken a major lead within the first couple of hours of counting of votes. But the trend that has surprised pundits and politicians alike is the revival of the Janata Dal - Secular, which has relegated the Bharatiya Janata Party to the third position.
Expressing grave concern over the luring of teenaged girls under the guise of 'love jihad", the Karnataka government on Friday said it would initiate a probe into the matter. Love jihad refers to the incidents of young non-Muslim girls allegedly being lured into marriage and then converted to Islam.
In a veiled attack on Modi, Rahul said he has never come across a senior public representative who has constantly chosen silence in the face of untold violence against women.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday dropped the plans to have an eight-hour roadshow by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bengaluru on Saturday following concerns expressed by Bengalureans over difficulties that they will face with such a day-long programme.
In an attempt to placate mining magnates Reddy brothers who failed to get ministerial berths in Karnataka, Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Friday told them that "a ministerial post is not permanent in politics". Gadkari, who inaugurated a mass marriage programme organised by the district BJP unit in Bellary under the leadership of former minister B Sreeramulu, exhorted the Reddy brothers to devote their energies to the service of the people.
The Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka has taken its tally to 116 with one more Independent MLA joining them. Yet, the party is not taking any chances. Worried about possible horse-trading, the party has packed off all MLAS to an unknown destination and they will be directly presented moments before the swearing-in ceremony. Interestingly, all the six have been assured of ministerial berths and will be sworn in Friday along with the rest of the BJP MLAs.
"Reddy brothers are holding the point that they have not violated any rules of mining. We are sure Janardhan Reddy will come out clean...As long as they are associated politically with us, we will own them up," Dhananjay Kumar, Karnataka government's special representative in Delhi, said.
Karnataka Assembly Speaker Jagadish Shettar on Monday quit the post, paving way for his induction into the ministry on Tuesday as part of a compromise formula evolved to end the recent dissidence against Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.
The accusation comes a day after the President's secretariat forwarded the assertions of the Opposition BJP that Delhi was facing a constitutional crisis to the ministry of home affairs for "proper attention".
Jagadish Shettar, a Lingayat leader backed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader B S Yeddyurappa, was on Thursday sworn in as the chief minister of Karnataka. The swearing-in ceremony took place in the absence of the entire Opposition, which decided to stay away.
The Vokkaliga community, which was upset after D Sadananda Gowda was replaced by Lingayat leader Jagadish Shettar as chief minister, has now asked all ministers and MLAs belonging to the community in the BJP to resign immediately.
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.
The sources told PTI that Shettar flew from Hubballi to Bengaluru on Sunday in a special helicopter and held discussions with Congress general secretary (Karnataka in-charge) Randeep Singh Surjewala, Congress state chief D K Shivakumar, former minister M B Patil and veteran Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
The remarks by Sibal, a noted advocate, came after Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar and eight others were inducted into the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government.
The B S Yeddyurappa faction within the Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party has threatened to pull down the government if the chief minister is not changed by July 5.
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