The BJP leadership knows it can't boast of governance in the state as the Bommai government has little to show. So, the game plan is to project Modi, who will reiterate how important it is for a state to have the same party ruling in power at the Centre, observes Ramesh Menon.
In an interview to a private news channel on March 31, Munirathna, Horticulture Minister in the Basavaraj Bommai government, had purportedly said, "Christians are converting people in this moment also. Conversion is maximum in the slums. In places where 1,400 people are there, 400 have been converted. If they come (for conversion) then kick them out or give complaint at the police station."
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday hailed the party's performance in the Karnataka assembly polls as the victory of politics that unites the country.
Chinchansur, a prominent leader of the Koli-Kabbaliga community in the Kalyana Karnataka region, resigned from his post of Member of the Legislative Council on Monday.
BJP MLC C T Ravi was arrested in Karnataka, India, for allegedly using derogatory language against Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar. He was released on bail by the High Court of Karnataka, which observed that police failed to follow proper procedures during his arrest. The incident has sparked a political showdown between the BJP and the ruling Congress in the state.
The Lokayukta police probing the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case on Wednesday said that the charges against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his wife Parvathi could not be proved for want of evidence.
Earlier, deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also the state party chief, also had separate meetings with Parameshwara and Jarkiholi.
What does election data say about the electoral support the competing parties in Karnataka have? Abhishek Waghmare find out.
The Karnataka high court on Monday stayed investigation against Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and others over alleged irregularities concerning the now scrapped electoral bond scheme.
Savadi would now be the grand old party's candidate in Athani in Belagavi district, Congress leaders said.
'We will win all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in 2024.'
Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Wednesday said the orders and legislations enforced under the previous Bharatiya Janata Party regime like school textbook revision and anti-conversion laws, which are against the state's interest, would be revised or withdrawn by the new Congress government after reviewing them.
The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday took a veiled dig at the Congress by asking it to safeguard its newly elected Karnataka MLAs from being poached by the Bharatiya Janata Party as was allegedly done by the saffron party in Goa amidst the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) could have performed better in the recently-held Lok Sabha polls and perhaps, too much time was spent in reaching seat-sharing agreements, Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya has said.
"K C Venugopal is a buffoon, I feel sorry for him, I feel sorry for my leader Sri Rahul Gandhi ji," Baig told reporters.
A case was booked against Bharatiya Janata Party MP and Bangalore South Candidate Tejasvi Surya for allegedly posting a video on a social media platform and soliciting votes on the grounds of religion, the Election Commission said on Friday.
The Congress on Saturday made a stunning comeback in Karnataka ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party from its lone southern citadel with a comfortable majority in a morale booster win that will be key for reviving its electoral fortunes ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
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.
AAP national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh next month to launch his party's foray into these states that are slated to go to polls later this year.
The IT-BT minister claimed that the then BJP government did not merely charge a '40 per cent commission', as his party had claimed during the assembly election, but had collected a commission of more than 400 per cent.
The minister said the objective behind setting up the special squad was to create communal harmony.
He termed the allegations as "just random statements" and demanded that people making such allegations should demonstrate how the EVMs can be "hacked"
What some of our politicians were up to on Friday, October 18, 2024.
All five leaders named have been critical of the saffron party's decision to appoint former chief minister B S Yediyurappa's son Vijayendra as its state president and Ashoka as the leader of opposition.
Janata Dal-Secular leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday hinted that his party was interested in the agriculture portfolio in the new National Democratic Alliance government.
Amid speculation that he has been asked to come to the national capital by the high command, he said: "I have not received any call yet. Let's see."
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.
Election Commission data shows 15.88 crore (158.8 million) voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the second phase on Friday.
While the ruling BJP, riding on the Modi juggernaut, wants to break the 38-year jinx and retain its southern citadel, the Congress is seeking to wrest power to give the party much-needed elbow room and momentum to position itself as the main opposition player in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Most of them are sitting legislators and a few of them also served as ministers in the past.
Political parties have fielded sons, wives and daughters-in-law of legislators who quit after being elected to the Lok Sabha.
There are challenges galore before him, and it is not going to be easy. In the next four years, he has to conjure a system that changes the optics about him and the BJP both nationally and internationally so that he can ride back on his own, claim the top slot, and not have to lean on a coalition, asserts Ramesh Menon as Modi 3.0 completes a year in power.
A renewed energy seems to have been infused into the 75-year old Congress leader Siddaramaiah's gait as he walked to address a packed press conference in Mysore on Saturday.
'There were deep discussions within the Sangh Parivar before this decision was made.' 'They were convinced, and only then did the Modi government proceed with the caste census.'
The Congress, by and large, focused on local issues in this election and its campaign also was run by state leaders initially.
With most exit polls predicting a tight contest between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the assembly polls in Karnataka, leaders of the two parties seem 'jittery' over the outcome, while the Janata Dal-Secular appears to be expecting a hung verdict, which would enable it to play a role in government formation.
He also promised to give free electricity, quality education in government schools and good healthcare for the state's people.
Conveying good wishes to people of the state and all political parties for the New Year, he however wished that the Congress comes to power.
Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority Commissioner Manoj Rajan said, 'We have got a message that a group of 31 people hailing from Karnataka are stranded in Sudan. We have informed the Ministry of External Affairs about it.'
The Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party allegedly shared the personal details of the girls from Udupi including their residential addresses who had approached the Karnataka high court against the ban on wearing of hijabs in classrooms.
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