The Bharatiya Janata Party's central leadership is having a tough time trying to maintain peace between the two factions in its Karnataka unit which are headed by former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and current CM Sadananda Gowda. Both Yeddyurappa and Gowda have released lists of their supporters. The faction led by Yeddyurappa faction has already arrived at the BJP legislature party meet to elect Jagadish Shettar as the new CM.
The development has come in the backdrop of Yediyurappa openly seeking JD-S support.
The Karnataka high court on Tuesday granted conditional bail to Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Legislative Assembly Y Sampangi on a criminal appeal filed by him seeking quashing of the recent conviction and sentence by the Lokayukta court.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday searched offices of two companies, including one owned by the wife of arrested mining baron and former minister G Janardhana Reddy, and also the residence of his close associate B Nagendra.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai who is under pressure to expand or rejig his cabinet at the earliest, ahead of the assembly polls next year, on Friday said he would try to discuss in this regard with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is scheduled to visit Bengaluru on May 3.
Yeddyurappa lacks the Karnataka BJP's unqualified support and Shah knows that.
'Union Budgets are often used as political instruments and that was the intention of this government too.' 'But while the exercise has settled two fronts, it has left open several others and this has the potential to aggravate with time,' predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Notwithstanding last-ditch efforts by state leaders to retain him in the party, Bharatiya Janata Party's Karnataka strongman B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday said he would go ahead with his plans to float a new party. Yeddyurappa, who is angry with the party leadership over the treatment meted out to him, said he would neither destabilise the BJP government nor cajole ministers and Members of Legislative Assembly to resign and join him.
After a running battle with Karnataka governor H R Bhardwaj for recommending president's rule in the state, chief minister B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday softened his stand. Yeddyurappa said he would not utter a "single word" against Bhardwaj and would respect the gubernatorial post.
In a dramatic turn of events, Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj on Sunday recommended the imposition of President's rule in the state. Bhardwaj, who returned to Bangalore on Sunday afternoon after a three-day visit to Delhi, despatched a 'special report' on the unfolding political situation in the state in the aftermath of the Supreme Court setting aside the disqualification.
The Bangalore police on Thursday claimed that they have busted a major module of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Harkat-ul-Jihadi- Islami. Eleven suspects, five from Bangalore and six from Hubli, have been detained and one of them is a journalist with a leading daily in Karnataka, said the police.Director General of Police Lalrokhuma Pachau told the media that the suspects had planned a state-wide operation in which they were going to target Members of Parliament.
More than three years after assuming office, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will effect a major reshuffle of his ministry on Sunday in a bid to refurbish administration with several ministers facing the axe.
If the Congress is contesting fewer seats than ever before, the BJP is set to contest its highest-ever number of Lok Sabha seats.
The 10 rebel MLAs had moved apex court alleging that the Karnataka assembly speaker was not accepting their resignations.
A great deal of infighting is taking place in Karnataka over the allocation of portfolios in the new cabinet headed by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar. The Reddy brothers camp (and members of Legislative Assembly from the coastal belt of the state are unhappy over the lack of representation in the cabinet, and have held a series of meetings.
There seems to be no end to the woes of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka.The meeting of the legislature party -- to elect Jagadish Shettar as its leader and the next chief minister -- has been delayed following a massive protest by supporters of incumbent CM Sadananda Gowda.
In a relief for former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, the high court has quashed proceedings initiated against him in connection with two cases. The cases against Kumaraswamy and his wife Anita, also a Janata Dal -Secular member of Legislative Assembly, relate to renewal of mining lease to the Jantakal Mining Firm in violation of norms and alleged irregularities in allotment of sites to Vishwabharathi Housing Cooperative Society.
Chairman of the legislature committee probing the porngate episode involving three ruling BJP MLAs in Karnataka on Thursday said eight to ten other legislators had also watched sleazy clips in the assembly.
The JD-S has chosen the serene surroundings of Nandi Hill on the city outskirts while its partner Congress opted for a star hotel, sources in the parties said. The MLAs of the BJP are staying in the cozy comforts of a resort near Yelahanka and an ultra luxury hotel.
The situation in the Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party appears to be grim with 21 leaders (9 Members of Legislative Assembly and 12 Members of Parliament) expressing their open support to former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa in case he decides to quit the party. But what has taken everyone by surprise is the open praise lavished upon Congress president Sonia Gandhi by Yeddyurappa.
'Religion has divided our country like it never had done.' 'I can't remember a time of such focused hatred.'
The drama in Karnataka is expected to drag on for some more time with the Central leadership telling former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa faction to wait at least another three days.
There appears to be no solution to the ongoing crisis in Karnataka. BS Yeddyurappa, who has parked 55 members of Legislative Assembly at a five-start resort in the outskirts of Bengaluru, has flatly rejected an invitation by Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari to hold talks.
The battle between Chief Minister of Karnataka, B S Yeddyurappa and former Chief Minister, H D Kumaraswamy was taken to Dharmasthala on Monday.
Bengaluru dominates Karnataka's economy and its infrastructure mess compounds the problems, with policies lagging need and expectations.
After dissidence in Karnataka, a section of Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar have revolted against their party leader and Deputy Chief Minister S K Modi for his reported statement intending to cover sharecroppers under the Kisan Credit Card Scheme.
The Congress on Thursday demanded the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on moral grounds after two out of three ministers in his government were found watching a porn clip on a cell-phone in the state legislative assembly. "The BJP, which talks of high morals and ethics, has no face left. What will its president Nitin Gadkari say now on this episode," said All India Congress Committee Secretary Sudhakar Reddy.
A day ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls for four seats from Karnataka, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday wrote an open letter to Janata Dal-Secular MLAs requesting them to cast their 'conscience vote' in favour of his party's second candidate Mansoor Ali Khan, stating that his win will be a victory of 'secular ideology' followed by both parties.
Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months.
BJP let Yeddyurappa get away with indiscretions as it did not want to rock the boat in Karnataka, says Aditi Phadnis
Hit by a barrage of allegations of corruption and intense power struggle among its leaders, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka is holding a two-day brainstorming session to give lessons on morality and discipline to its legislators from Friday.
Aiming to breach the Bharatiya Janata Party's Gujarat bastion, the Aam Aadmi Party fielded its candidate to contest all 182 assembly seats and carried out a high decibel campaign in the run-up to the polls in Gujarat.
With organisations like the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which is a front of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, telling Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman they want OPS back, the government is in a bind, report Shiva Rajora and Aditi Phadnis.
The Bharatiya Janata Party will have an understanding with former prime minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal-Secular for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said on Friday, an announcement that shot up political temperature in Karnataka.
This motion is in keeping with a directive by Governor T N Chaturvedi to him on January 28, to prove his majority within eight days of assuming office.
All's well that ends well - that is the picture you get when you look at what transcribed in Bharatiya Janata Party's crucial meeting on Wednesday.
Amid the suspense over the fate of the B S Yeddyurappa government in Karnataka following the revolt by a section of the Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Legislative Assembly, both the ruling party and opposition Janata Dal - Secular on Saturday continued their political machinations to maintain control over the rebels, who are currently holed up in a Goa hotel. Tourism Minister and mining magnate G Janardhana Reddy.
The best option to reduce farm distress in the state is that when the rains fail, the state -- the central and the state government -- provide a financial cushion for the farmer
Under attack from the Congress and the Janatha Dal Secular, while also battling threats of being ousted, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Monday said his government enjoyed majority. He said there was no need for 'Operation Lotus' under which opposition members of the legislative assembly were lured to the Bharatiya Janata Party.