Even as candidates continue their campaign for the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections, the entire day Tuesday was about the allegations made against senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani.
Amid fanfare, hundreds of candidates, including key politicians B S Yeddyurappa, G Parameshwara and Siddaramaiah, entered the fray on Monday for the May five assembly elections as a festive atmosphere prevailed in many segments.
Karnataka Janata Paksha president B S Yeddyurappa Saturday described the Congress win in May 5 assembly polls as good for the state, but said it remained to be seen how the party was going to govern.
Eighteen BJP MLAs were suspended for six months from the Karnataka Legislative Assembly for disrupting the budget session and disrespecting the Speaker. The incident occurred on the last day of the budget session, when the opposition BJP MLAs staged a massive protest over the allocation of a four percent reservation to Muslims in public contracts. The MLAs climbed onto the podium where the Speaker's chair is situated and threw papers at him.
Lingayats are said to constitute about 17 per cent of Karnataka's population, and the community has dominance in as many as 100 out of total 224 constituencies, majority of these seats being in north Karnataka region.
They are the contenders, the leaders of parties that will finally form a government in Karnataka.
The Bharatiya Janata Party had won 30 of the total 50 seats in the region in the 2018 assembly polls, followed by Congress 17, Janata Dal-Secular 2, and others (KPJP-Shankar) 1.
The Congress on Monday shifted all its MLAs to a hotel ahead of the biennial election to fill four vacancies from Karnataka in Rajya Sabha apparently to keep the flock together.
The pre-poll conducted by CSDS for CNN-IBN shows that the Congress party is set to improve its position in the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will likely suffer major losses.
Although the much-touted Yeddyurappa impact has managed to split the BJP votes in Karnataka, the newly-formed KJP has nothing to cheer about over its performance in polls, notes Vicky Nanjappa.
Apparently aimed at keeping the flock together ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls, all ruling Congress MLAs in Karnataka will stay put together at a hotel in Bengaluru on Monday after the budget session of the state legislature concludes and will later also travel together for voting the next day.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has told the state executive meeting of his newly-floated Karnataka Janata Paksha that the merger with Bharatiya Janata Party has not materialised.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Karnataka Janata Paksha President B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday scotched speculation about joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying he would retain the identity of his party.
The Rajya Sabha election scene in Karnataka heated up with the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (Secular) combine fielding its second candidate, even though the alliance has the strength to win only one out four seats.
Five candidates were in the fray for the four seats in the elections, including Janata Dal-Secular contestant D Kupendra Reddy.
This strategy was discussed when Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently visited Mysuru to discuss the BJP's Lok Sabha plan, reports Aditi Phadnis.
The Karnataka state executive meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party held on Friday in Bangalore spent a considerable amount of time discussing the election strategy, and more importantly, the return of Karnataka Janata Paksha chief B S Yeddyurappa into the party.
Many in the party feel it has played a critical role in boosting the Congress' electoral fortunes in the state and its impact is there for everyone to see.
Notwithstanding intensified efforts by BJP's Karnataka unit to bring him back to the party, B S Yeddyurappa on Monday said none from central leadership had contacted him.
However, it fell nine seats short of a majority.
The Congress will not finalise a pre-poll alliance with B S Yeddyurappa's Karnataka Janata Paksha, senior party leader Veerappa Moily said on Monday.
The BJP released the list a day after its central election committee met to finalise the names of its candidates for the high-stakes election.
2 office bearers each from Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa camps have been relieved.
The list does not include Jagadish Shettar who met BJP president J P Nadda earlier in the day to stake his claim to contest from his Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency.
For the May 10 assembly elections in Karnataka, the following are the 20 seats to watch out for.
The Congress must learn its lessons from the Gujarat elections and ensure that the anti-BJP votes don't get splintered by aligning with the JD-S, says Shafeeq Rahman.
Karnataka Janata Paksha supremo B S Yeddyurappa on Friday installed his close associate and former Minister Shobha Karandlaje as working president of the party.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has announced an inquiry into alleged irregularities in selection of candidates by the state public Service Commission for gazetted probationer posts.
The BJP's parliamentary board, which held a meeting at 11, Ashoka Road, New Delhi, the headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party, had inconclusive deliberations about the alliance of the southern states on Friday.
The launch of a new party by former Karnataka minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy has spiced up the poll scene in parts of state.
Modi could tap into the urban discontent and present a larger picture to first time voters and mid-career professionals.
Venting her grouse over entry of Badava Shramika Raitha Congress president B Sreeramalu in the Bharatiya Janata Party, senior leader Sushma Swaraj on Friday night said he was taken in despite her "stiff opposition".
Former BJP union Minister Taradevi Siddartha, former Kannada Paksha MP S B Sidnal and former Janata Parivar Karnataka Assembly Legislator Jayaprakash Hegde on Tuesday joined the Congress in the presence of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Mallikarjun Kharge. Speaking to newspersons, Kharge said Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has approved their induction into the party.
In continuing desertions from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in poll-bound Karnataka, three more Members of Legislative Assembly on Thursday quit the party, apparently to join other parties before the assembly elections in May.
'Entire process of meeting individual legislators of Congress party has been completed with great bohemia.'
After a series of deliberations, the BJP on Tuesday announced its first list of 189 candidates and a second list of 23 on Wednesday night.
'BJP was always there in my blood, but due to some reasons I had gone out, but today I feel I have come back to my mother's lap. Looking at my brothers here, I don't feel like I'm coming back to the BJP office after 13 years'
"A new era of development will start from now onwards," said BJP's Karnataka president B S Yeddyurappa soon after the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition government lost the confidence vote.
Losing power after having come so close, Yediyurappa was determined to regain the reins of power from H D Kumaraswamy.
Janardhana Reddy said he has not launched it with the objective of becoming CM right away in 2023.
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