A meeting of the Congress legislature party (CLP) on Thursday formally elected Siddaramaiah as its leader and the next chief minister of Karnataka.
While addressing a Veerashaiva-Lingayat meeting in Shivamogga, Eshwarappa said, "We do not want even a single Muslim vote here. Nationalist Muslims will, however, vote for the BJP."
In its reply, the state government said reservation solely on the basis of religion is also contrary to the principles of social justice and the concept of social justice aims to protect those who are deprived and discriminated against within the society.
Siddaramaiah even said that he would retire from politics if even one instance is presented with proof that he had made money by transferring officials.
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.
State Congress president D K Shivakumar even tore papers on his table, in protest against the introduction of the bill, which his party called 'draconian and anti-constitution'.
Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).
At a press conference in Bengaluru on Saturday the Congress played an audio clip, claiming that the BJP candidate from Chittapur Manikanth Rathod used derogatory language for Kharge and could be heard talking about eliminating him and his family.
Veteran Congress man and former chief minister of Karnataka Veerappa Moily believes that his party will win a comfortable majority.
"There is no crisis in Karnataka. Our government will complete its term. There is nothing to suggest anything to Jagadish Shettar as he is a very intelligent person," BJP president Rajnath Singh said.
"We will do anything to keep the BJP out of power...In the interest of Karnataka, my father should become the chief minister," Yathindra Siddaramaiah said.
Congress' good show was a "Janata Janardhana Victory", he said, crediting the people for the party's apparent return to power as it established a clear lead ahead of its rival BJP.
HD Kumaraswamy, former chief minister, will contest from Channapatna where he had won the election defeating local heavyweight CP Yogeshwar in 2018.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Karnataka minister for rural development and panchayat raj KS Eshwarappa on Wednesday claimed the Bhagwa dhwaj (saffron flag) may become the national flag some time in the future.
All the action from political crisis in Karnataka has now shifted to New Delhi, with both the camps -- led by former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and current CM Sadananda Gowda, respectively -- in the Bharatiya Janata Party scheduled to meet with the top leadership in a bid to end the row.
Former Karnataka chief minister Jagdish Shettar, who had quit the Bharatiya Janata Party to join the Congress ahead of the state assembly polls last year, rejoined his old party on Thursday.
Despite the AAP cutting into its votes, the Congress still polled 27 per cent votes and won 17 seats.
Prajwal Revanna's former car driver Karthik and Bharatiya Janata Party leader G Devaraje Gowda accused each other of leaking the alleged sleaze videos of the Janata Dal-Secular Hassan MP which has caused a big embarrassment to the regional party.
New Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday ruled out creation of a Deputy chief minister's post and re-induction of controversial Reddy brothers in the cabinet.
BJP leaders said they were mulling moving the Supreme Court in the light of Thursday's developments.
Hours after Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje's assertion that the suspect involved in the March 1 blast at The Rameshwaram Cafe was from Tamil Nadu, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader issued a retraction and offered an apology.
After all attempts of peace between former Chief Minister of Karnataka B S Yeddyurappa and the Bharatiya Janata Party has failed, there have been indications that a new political outfit will be floated on November 19.
'Free this and free that, and the voters were with them.'
The BJP presented a surplus, farmer friendly budget for Rs 18.85 crore for the year 2008-09. Emphasis was also given to Bengaluru city with Rs 36,000 crore being allocated for infrastructure development. In his budget speech, Yeddyurappa said that the main intention was to improve the image of Bengaluru and put it on the global map. For this to take place the development of infrastructure was the key.
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday said he was in favour of extending reservation benefits to Muslims but emphasised that it should be based on social backwardness and 'not on the basis of religion'.
Denying reports of his resignation, Karnataka Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda has said the question of a leadership change does not arise in Karnataka.
Rediff.com brings you some explosive extracts from the 400-page report that has triggered a political tsunami.
The ruling party legislators have expressed serious reservations about MLCs not elected by the people being made ministers, lack of representation to certain regions, with most ministers still from Bengaluru and Belagavi districts and also on their 'seniority or sacrifice' not being considered.
Eager to stall the presentation of an election budget by the state government headed by Jagadish Shettar, B S Yeddyurappa's Karnataka Janatha Party is holding its executive committee meeting in Bangalore on Friday to finalise 'an action plan' to bring down the first Bharatiya Janata Party government in the south.
The bomb blast near the state Bharatiya Janata Party city office that left at least 16 people injured indicated the hand of terrorists and state police has set up a special team to investigate the attack, Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said on Wednesday.
The full bench of the Election Commission may meet in the first week of March and the announcement of election schedule may take place by March 10
The BJP is focusing determinedly on the seats it lost in 2019, with the hope of winning these either independently or with the aid of its allies.
The Minister under the scanner, Katta Subramanya Naidu, insisted that his hands were clean and said there was no question of resignation.
In the byelections held on September 13, the BJP's Y C Vishwanath, a medical practitioner, won by over 13,000 votes in Kadur, held earlier by the Congress. But the BJP failed to retain Gulbarga South, with the JD-S candidate Aruna Patil romping home by over 3,000 votes over the Congress's Ajay Singh, son of former chief minister Dharam Singh
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal also said that no visa is required for diplomatic passport holders to travel to Germany.
The NIA seized several electronic gadgets and documents during the searches at the houses of Abdul Nasir and Abdul Rahaman in Kodagu district and Naushad in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka.
The Congress met Karnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur on Monday and urged him to dismiss the Kumaraswamy-led state government. Congress leaders also asked Thakur to impose President's rule in Karnataka. During the meeting, Congress legislators submitted individual letters to Thakur stating that they will not support any party in government formation.
Launching the Congress' campaign in Sindhanoor in northern Karnataka, Rahul said BJP broke electoral promises and "the only thing they remembered was how to loot public money in the state. They have done it. They are past masters in this".
Taking its campaign against Governor H R Bhardwaj to a new level, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka on Friday decided to launch state-wide protests seeking his immediate recall for 'insulting the people of the state'. Apprehending that Bhardwaj might sanction the prosecution of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on alleged land scams on the basis of a complaint by a lawyers' forum, a meeting of the BJP core committee decided to organise anti-governor protests.
Uma Bharti was arrested in Hubli early on Wednesday and remanded to 14 days in judicial custody. She is likely to be lodged in a Belgaum jail.\n\n
