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.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's first list of 20 candidates for Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka has caused dissidence among leaders in the state with few claiming that they would switch over to Congress.
'But I know why he did it.' 'He was being heckled by BJP members who were mocking the Congress.' 'In that context, he quoted the song to tell them: "We know your anthem, we know your ideology, we know how divisive you are".' 'It was not an endorsement.'
Along with him, six others have also been booked in the case following the complaint of a 40-year-old woman who alleged that the incident took place at a private resort within the Kaggalipura police station's jurisdiction, they said.
Rediff Labs has developed a Sentiment Meter for the 2023 battle of Karnataka.
Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are wondering if the party-led government in Karnataka will opt for the dissolution of the state assembly in the wake of the political turmoil unleashed by the renegade B S Yeddyurappa.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna passed away at his residence in Bengaluru early Tuesday morning, his family said.
An important meeting of top Bharatiya Janata Party leadership was held on Wednesday in Delhi regarding the party's organisational elections, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Rajya Sabha MP said the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test has prevented access to medical education for so many children and the strength to change that rule of exam could emerge only from education.
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.
Marshals had to forcefully evict the BJP MLAs who had surrounded the Speaker's chair.
Following allegations by a section of farmers from Vijayapura district that their lands were marked as Waqf properties, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil on Monday said the notices issued to them will be withdrawn, and the Deputy Commissioner is inquiring into the 'mistake'.
Kharge also accused those in the saffron party of "lynching and beating" people, and committing atrocities against SC/STs.
In a letter to the Karnataka chief secretary, the Commission said the state government did not obtain prior approval from it for publishing the advertisements, an action violative of the poll code instructions issued to central and state governments years ago.
The Old Mysuru region, the community's stronghold, comprises Ramanagara, Mandya, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu, Kolar, Tumakuru and Hassan districts.
The tug-of-war between the Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa continues with the latter deciding to advance the launch of his party by a day in view of the special session of the legislative assembly scheduled to be held at Belgaum.
'Mr Modi has the power and pre-eminence in the BJP-RSS to choose how long he wants to serve, and he is definitely going to want to contest in 2029.' 'He will only be 79, as old as Donald Trump now, and fitter,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
The Karnataka high court on Wednesday ordered issue of notice to former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on a petition challenging an Election Commission order recognising him as the president of Karnataka Janata Party.
With six children of Karnataka ministers in the Lok Sabha poll arena, the campaign scene is getting spiced up in the high-stakes elections for the ruling Congress in the state.
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.
However, it fell nine seats short of a majority.
The Karnataka high court has granted an interim stay on criminal proceedings initiated against Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Malviya and Republic TV's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, in connection with allegations of spreading false claims that the Indian National Congress (INC) operates an office in Istanbul, Turkiye.
Does voter deletion controversy expose critical gaps in ECI verification procedures and safeguards protecting electoral roll integrity?
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said his party will soon come out with a 'hydrogen bomb' of revelations about 'vote chori' and after that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be able to show his face to the country.
Some leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Karnataka unit are ready to switch their loyalties if the ruling party fails to come back to power.
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.
Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party MLC C T Ravi was arrested after a first information report (FIR) was registered against him, for allegedly using a derogatory word against minister Laxmi Hebbalkar in the Legislative Council on Thursday, police said.
The Congress' victory in the Karnataka assembly polls is likely to help the party get its candidates elected in three of the four Rajya Sabha seats from the state falling vacant next year.
He also announced appointment of another senior leader D Manjunath as chairman of the party's Parliamentary Board and Meerajuddin Patel as chairman of the Political Affairs Committee.
Following a complaint by a police inspector, the case was registered at Cubbon Park station, they said.
Coming down hard on the Election Commission for its response on 'vote theft' allegations, former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi on Sunday said the poll body should have ordered a probe into Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's charges instead of 'shouting' at him in a language that was 'objectionable and offensive'.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday held discussions with his cabinet colleagues in the wake of the Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot reportedly issuing him a 'show-cause notice', seen as a precursor to sanctioning his prosecution in the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment 'scam'.
The Rajya Sabha, India's upper house of parliament, was adjourned on Monday without transacting any business due to a heated exchange between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress over the issue of reservations to Muslims in public contracts in Karnataka. The BJP accused Congress of seeking to amend the Constitution to provide reservations based on religion, while Congress asserted its commitment to protecting the Constitution. The debate centered around a statement by a senior Congress leader, who was reportedly advocating for changing the Constitution to provide reservations for Muslims.
BJP and RSS leaders are once again pushing to remove the words 'secular' and 'socialist' from the Constitution's Preamble, showing a deeper effort to change India's identity from a diverse, multi-religious republic to a Hindu-first nation, even though they don't have the numbers in Parliament to officially change the Constitution, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
He also cautioned political leaders about making public statements or sharing information in connection with the case, which is sensitive.
A new cabinet in the state will be in place in the next 48-72 hours.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday searched locations in Karnataka, including educational institutions linked to state Home Minister G Parameshwara, as part of a probe into alleged gold smuggling-linked money laundering case against Kannada actor Ranya Rao and others. The ED sources said an educational trust is suspected to have "diverted" funds and made a payment of Rs 40 lakh towards the credit card bill of Rao, allegedly on the instructions of an influential individual. The sources claimed the trust is linked to Parameshwara and the "influential" individual is a politically exposed person. The searches found there were no supporting vouchers or documentation to "substantiate" this payment (for credit card bill payment), they said.
One Rajya Sabha seat is a small price to pay for all the skills that Kamal Haasan brings to the table, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Gandhi drove to Kharge's residence and held a closed-door meeting with the Congress chief.
Police have registered a case after a video was uploaded on YouTube claiming that an Indian Police Service officer in disguise caught former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti while taking a bribe, an official said on Tuesday.
