Prominent Vokkaliga pontiff of Adi Chunchanagiri Nirmalananda Natha Swamiji on Sunday appealed to the Congress leadership to appoint Karnataka party unit president D K Shivakumar as the next chief minister of the state.
The BJP in Karnataka has claimed that the Lokayukta probe has cleared the party's previous government from 40 per cent commission charges, calling the allegations by the Congress "false". The BJP leaders claim that the allegations were part of the Congress' "tool kit" and were used during the 2023 Assembly polls to corner the then BJP government. However, the Congress government has stated that they have not yet seen the report and that acquittals happen due to a lack of evidence. The BJP has also alleged that the current Congress government is a "60 per cent commission government" and has cited several scams during their time in power.
Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna on Saturday floated the idea of having three more Deputy Chief Ministers in Karnataka, and said he will discuss it with the Congress high command, keeping in mind the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Party sources said United Progressive Allinace chairperson Sonia Gandhi is likely to reach Delhi on Wednesday from Himachal Pradesh and is expected to meet some leaders who are part of the decision-making process in Karnataka.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said his government has decided to hand over the Hubballi student murder case to the Crime Investigation Department and that a special court will be set up for its speedy disposal.
Amid a surge in dengue cases in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said he has instructed officials to take all necessary precautionary measures to prevent spread of the vector borne disease and urged the people to give utmost priority to cleanliness in their neighbourhoods.
Krishna was unable to attend the court on Tuesday as he had to appear before the Lokayukta police following a notice issued to him by the investigation officers probing the MUDA site allotment case against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and others, sources close to him said.
'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.
Within a week of assuming power, the Congress government in Karnataka has expanded its cabinet on Saturday, filling all posts.
According to Congress, the five schemes are 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti).
Two Covid-19 related deaths and 20 fresh cases were reported in Karnataka, according to a Health bulletin issued on Wednesday.
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 Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case over which the Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot accorded sanction for investigation against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has its origins more than three decades ago.
This was one of the 43 cases the state Cabinet decided to withdraw at its meeting on Thursday following a petition by the Anjuman-e-Islam to the Home Minister G Parameshwara, official sources said.
'Karnataka's finances are much healthier than the Union government's, which is indebted to nearly twice the extent of the state.'
The chief minister had challenged the approval given by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot for an investigation against him in the alleged irregularities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) in a prime locality.
The Congress on Monday distanced itself from the controversial comments of some of its leaders on the Pahalgam terror attack, saying that only the recent CWC resolution and the views expressed by AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and authorised AICC office-bearers represent its position. The opposition party's assertion comes in the wake of remarks by leaders like Vijay Wadettiwar, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Shashi Tharoor, Tariq Hameed Karra and Saifuddin Soz that have triggered a row, with the BJP alleging that some from the opposition party were speaking "Pakistan's language".
Fearing political gain for the Congress from the padayatra, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is making 'frustrated attempts' to scuttle it, former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday, as their march demanding implementation of the Mekedatu project across the Cauvery river, entered its third day.
Joshi said that the D'Cunha Commission released an interim report without issuing a notice to Yediyurappa or Ramulu.
Amid growing chorus from Siddaramaiah's camp in Karnataka Congress to project him as the chief ministerial face of the party for the 2023 assembly polls, his son and Varuna MLA on Wednesday asserted that his father has a chance to become CM once again.
According to a statement issued by the chief minister's office, the meeting will be held in Vidhana Souda conference Hall.
Five Congress legislators on Wednesday threatened to resign if senior party leader and minister K H Muniyappa's son-in-law Chikka Peddanna was given a ticket to contest from Kolar in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, bringing into open the divisions in the outfit.
Farmers organisations and pro-Kannada organisations staged protests in Mysuru, Mandya, Bengaluru and other parts expressing their anger and urging the state government not to release water to Tamil Nadu.
'We try to connect people, but they disconnect people.'
Bus services between Karnataka and Maharashtra have been suspended following attacks on buses and their crew. The decision was taken given the tension prevailing in the border district of Belagavi over a sensitive issue. The language row began after a group of people allegedly intercepted a KSRTC bus and assaulted its conductor and driver for not speaking to a passenger in Marathi. The passenger, a minor girl, also filed a complaint stating that the conductor misbehaved with her. However, the family of the minor girl has decided to withdraw the case and urged people to stop escalating the matter into a language dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The Cabinet held a detailed discussion regarding the five guarantees and its implementation, and has arrived at decisions, Siddaramaiah who headed the meeting told reporters.
Evidence of several irregularities have been detected in the transfer of 14 sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to B M Parvathi, the wife of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, according to the Enforcement Directorate.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday said he has given details about the state's stand and facts regarding the raging border dispute with Maharashtra to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is likely to call a meeting of chief ministers of both states next week.
Cong could win only 2 of 15 seats. Siddaramaiah wrote to Sonia expressing regret.
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.
Khan while reacting to party's state president DK Shivakumar's attempt to consolidate the Vokkaliga community, had recently said that nobody can become the chief minister with support from just one community.
The ruling party MLA from Vijayanagara suggested that the election guarantees have made it difficult to provide houses to the poor in the state.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday questioned the ED slapping a money laundering case against him in the MUDA 'scam' and once again ruled out his resignation over the issue.
The Leader of Opposition in the state assembly celebrated his 72nd birthday on Wednesday. Siddaramaiah has 'completely recovered', and according to doctors the throat swab and blood test conducted for the second time, have come negative, a statement said.
However, the architects of the Congress's success, if the leads turn into the winning seats -- local Karnataka Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar or Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge -- were missing from the video.
The Congress, by and large, focused on local issues in this election and its campaign also was run by state leaders initially.
A 13-year-old boy died and 28 other students were hospitalized after suspected food poisoning at an unauthorized hostel in Mandya, Karnataka, India. The incident occurred after students consumed leftover food from a Holi celebration. The school has been operating without a license to run a hostel and was illegally operating the hostel on the first floor of the school building. The school reportedly follows an arrangement where hostel students receive leftover food from nearby events. The school owner, cook, and hostel warden have been arrested in connection with the incident.
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.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after a Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday said that the government has decided to go for open market tender to procure rice, whose process will start from Thursday.
Chief ministers of three Congress-ruled states -- Karnataka's Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh's Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Telangana's Revanth Reddy -- have announced they will not attend the NITI Aayog meeting over alleged bias against their states in the Union Budget.
