Extending its winning run in the south, the Congress on Sunday won 64 assembly seats to form government in the Bharat Rashtra Samiti-dominated Telangana, with the southern solace coming in the midst of a saffron sweep of the Hindi heartland where the Bharatiya Janata Party wrested two states from the grand old party and retained one.
Polling is underway to elect 119 members of the Telangana Legislative Assembly, with voters queuing up to exercise their franchise amid tight security on Thursday.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh was on Tuesday appointed governor of Rajasthan as the Centre named three more Bharatiya Janata Party leaders for the Raj Bhavans in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa.
Overhaul of the goods and services tax (GST) structure, including possible changes in the tax slabs, may now be taken up only after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, given the number of states that are going to the polls in its run-up. "No major overhaul of tax rates is expected in GST until the end of next fiscal year. One major reason for this is that some members of the group of ministers (GoM) - mandated to look at rate rationalisation by the GST Council - are from poll-bound states. Later, this may lead to reconstitution of the panel," a senior government official told Business Standard. Besides, both the Centre and states are not in favour of frequent changes in the tax rates amid inflationary uncertainties; they believe any major change should be brought in after extensive deliberations, according to the official.
Capping a three-week-long high-voltage intense power struggle triggered by a raft of resignations by rebel lawmakers that pushed the government to the brink of collapse, the motion in the Karnataka Assembly was defeated with 99 members voting for the motion and 105 against it.
Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attended the swearing in ceremony, while former AICC President Sonia Gandhi was absent. Chief Ministers of Congress ruled states Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and Sukhvinder Singh Sukku (Himachal Pradesh) and several top party leaders were also in attendance.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday met Congress parliamentary party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former party chief Rahul Gandhi at their residence in New Delhi.
In Vijayapura, Yediyurappa said neither he nor his son have made any such statements, and would not like to react to comments made by someone close to Vijayendra.
There was also no stay of the disqualification of rebel AIADMK MLAs.
Hectic political activities continued for the second consecutive day in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka on Thursday, as party's national general secretary in-charge of the State Arun Singh started meeting leaders and legislators individually, in the backdrop of speculations over replacing Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.
The BSP is contesting on 20 seats in Karnataka election with an alliance with Janata Dal-Secular while the SP is contesting on 27 on its own.
Here is the lowdown of the each state and parties.
The last five years in Karnataka politics were marred by dissidence, confusion and instability. So not surprisingly, despite an impressive attendance record of 81 per cent, the state assembly convened for only 144 days in the past five years.
Siddaramaiah seems overwhelmed by problems coming at him from every direction, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Siddaramaiah, who hails from the shepherd Kuruba caste, holds the record for presenting the highest number of Budgets in Karnataka -- 13 so far. He has often spoken about how he was mocked in 1994 before he presented his first Budget. 'Some people asked, "Can he count sheep?",' Siddaramaiah told a regional news channel.
Some important simple truths about the issue may be more helpful than high sounding debates, asserts Mohammad Sajjad.
'People of the state who bless me will give a befitting replay to the Congress.'
Initially, banners were placed during the annual Kaup Marigudi festival in Udupi district, stating that non-Hindu vendors and traders should not be allowed entry.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
This will be the fourth stint for Yeddyurappa as the chief minister -- the last one was after the May 2018 assembly polls.
With the Biju Janata Dal backing the National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, the vote share of the ruling dispensation has now crossed 50 percent, virtually paving the way for her election as the first tribal President and the youngest too.
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.
Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Friday said that the Congress government will try to implement the five poll guarantees as soon as possible, but there will be certain 'rules and regulations'.
Ignoring the recommendation of the state unit to field Vijayendra for the June 3 biennial elections to seven seats of Karnataka Legislative Council, the party central leadership on Tuesday announced names of four candidates, hours before the deadline for filing of nominations ended.
Awaiting the outcome of a meeting convened by the Centre, Karnataka Cabinet on Wednesday decided to defer till Thursday a decision on release of 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu as per the Supreme Court direction.
Prove majority or go home. This was the message from Congress as the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka was mired in a fresh crisis, with 13 of its Members of Legislative Assembly announcing their decision to quit their assembly membership.
While former minister and MLA Aravind Limbavali's wife Manjula Arvind Limbavali has got the ticket for the Mahadevapura constituency, the party has fielded Katta Jagadish, son of former minister Katta Subramanya Naidu from Hebbal.
The state is mainly witnessing a three-cornered contest between the ruling BJP, the Congress and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular).
The legislature reiterated the state's stand that the issue is a settled one, and not an inch of land will be given to the neighbouring State.
The police which are probing the matter on Bommai's instruction had arrested B R Naidu, the former chief of Congress' Karnataka unit social media team, on Wednesday night from his residence.
In a stern message to the powerful Reddy brothers, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka on Friday slapped show cause notices on three members of Legislative Assembly and a member of Legislative Council loyal to them for alleged anti-party activities in backing rebel candidate B Sreeramulu for the bypoll to Bellary rural assembly segment.
'This means the remedy will be worse than the disease. The thing which you want to avoid will happen.'
Ignoring JD-S' request for support, the Congress did not withdraw its second candidate Khan from the fray and issued a whip to all its MLAs asking them to vote for the party's candidates.
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.
Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, he said, he is not giving priority to such things and was concentrating on strengthening the party.
Legislators are said to be miffed and have complained that they had not been able to get work done in their constituencies, and also transfers (of Government servants) as requested, and have expressed unhappiness regarding Ministers, alleging non-cooperation.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will consider whether the pleas challenging the validity of the electoral bond scheme for political funding of parties can be referred to a Constitution bench for an "authoritative pronouncement".
In a renewed bid to get the party to reinstate him, former Chief Minister of Karnataka B S Yeddyurappa has decided to move his members of Legislative Assembly to a resort on Monday.
K Siddaramaiah, who took over as the 22nd chief minister of Karnataka on Monday, is all set to face a stormy legislative assembly session. Among the several decisions that he took after being sworn-in was to reverse the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government's decision banning cow slaughter in the state.
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