The Bharatiya Janata Party's comprehensive defeat to the Congress in Karnataka where the two parties ran a campaign of contrasts has left the ruling party much to ponder as the two rivals are facing a direct contest in three more state polls this year in the run-up to the all-important 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Accusing the Congress of also abusing the dominant Lingayat community in poll-bound Karnataka, the prime minister further said the grand old party had even abused Babasaheb Ambedkar and were engaged in abusing Veer Savarkar.
Peace prevailed in Karnataka's Hubbali town on Monday, a day after a mob went on the rampage over a social media post that saw a police station and a Hanuman temple coming under attack, even as the police arrested 89 persons in connection with the incident.
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.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday released its first list of 189 candidates for the May 10 Karnataka assembly polls, fielding Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai from his traditional Shiggaon constituency.
The BJP-led NDA's nominee Droupadi Murmu on Friday filed her nomination papers for the July 18 presidential election, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi handing over the set of papers to Returning Officer P C Mody.
"The Congress have gone and made promises in Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh that they never fulfilled," Rajeev Chandrasekhar claimed.
What were our political leaders up to on the weekend?
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai appealed to people to celebrate Hindu new year Ugadi and 'Hosa Tadaku' festivals peacefully without disturbing law and order.
There are lessons for the Congress to learn from the Karnataka elections of how burying the hatchet among top leaders and not washing dirty linen in public can help, says Ramesh Menon.
He will be holding a meeting with Ministers of Education and Home departments and officials later in the day aimed at taking certain measures to restore cordial and peaceful atmosphere and discipline at educational institutions.
The government, however, made it clear entry into classrooms with hijab will not be allowed.
He also announced unemployment allowance for the youth, as the party's fourth poll guarantee, on coming to power.
'The BJP's defining character is Hindutva. The party's political strategy is based on a combination of Hindutva+Development.'
As Congress launched its 11-day padayatra seeking early implementation of the Mekedatu drinking water project on Sunday, Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar stirred troubled waters for himself as three FIRs have been filed against him on allegations of flouting COVID-19 norms.
Opposition leaders on Saturday lauded the Congress for its victory in Karnataka and thanked the people of the state, saying that this win has showed that 'Modi is not invincible'.
'The wife will not only abuse her husband for giving her less money, but also abuse the government.' 'Look at the price of a cooking gas cylinder, it is Rs 1,200.'
The BJP received a shot in the arm when for the first time its corporator Sunanda Palanethra became Mayor of the city following the collapse of ruling Congress and the JD-S alliance on Wednesday.
The Congress legislators have been camping in the Vidhana Soudha inside the Assembly Hall and have been sleeping there in the night.
Karnataka's legislator from Bharatiya Janata Party, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, has claimed that he was approached by some people offering him the state chief minister's position, in exchange for Rs 2,500 crore.
Is Governor Ravi acting without informing/consulting the Centre, or is the BJP leadership unsure of what to do with the DMK in Tamil Nadu? asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP on Wednesday also named its in-charges for assembly bypolls to four seats in Tripura.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa's granddaughter Dr Soundarya V Y allegedly ended her life by hanging herself from the ceiling fan at her Vasant Nagar flat on Friday morning, the police said.
Shapoorji Pallonji Group's head Pallonji Mistry died at his residence here, company officials said on Tuesday. Mistry, the largest individual shareholder in the Tata Group with a 18.4 per cent holding in the conglomerate, was 93.
The meeting, which lasted for over four hours, was attended by chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of 18 states.
The current public mood is that it will be a hung assembly. No one, not even in the BJP, is talking about even a simple majority for the party.
Overall, the record of the second term reveals a contradiction between the image and the reality. The image, especially on media and social media, is one of the man at the height of his power, and unstoppable. The reality on governance is someone who has found it difficult to get things implemented and unsure of what to do next, points out Aakar Patel.
A Karnataka government circular on selecting students with knowledge of Hindi for a tour of Uttarakhand has sparked a 'Hindi imposition' row, with the government clarifying there was no such direction either from the state or the Centre on the matter.
A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna said from the records tabled before the court it appears that the Karnataka government's decision is based on "absolutely fallacious assumption".
On his sixth visit this year to Karnataka, where assembly elections are due by May, he also asserted that the 'double engine' government is a necessity for the fast-paced development of the state.
The GST Council on Tuesday approved changes in tax rates on some goods and services while allowing states to issue an e-way bill for intra-state movement of gold and precious stones, officials said. The Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state counterparts, also cleared a host of compliance procedures for GST-registered businesses along with a GoM report on high-risk tax payers to check evasion. The discussion on the crucial issues of extension of compensation to states beyond June 2022 and the imposition of 28 per cent GST on casinos, online gaming and horse racing, will take place on Wednesday.
The minister also said the Bengaluru-specific anti-terrorist squad (ATS) probably will be operational in November first week.
Shettar alleged that he had been humiliated by the BJP by denying him a ticket and that party is today in the control of "very few people."
The rising pitch of road shows and long rallies with hectoring pitches seem to have exhausted and numbed the audiences, rather than motivating them to vote for the party, observes Shreekant Sambrani.
'If they harp on it again, they will begin to lose votes.' 'They have not lost this time, but they will lose next time.' 'Your committed votes will never be enough to guarantee victory for you.'
Hailing former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, calling him a "role model", he also advocated for more women representation in the assembly.
The members of the RSS' student wing holding their organisation's saffron flag stormed inside the compound of Jnanendra's bungalow at Jayamahal here and raised slogans like 'We want justice'.
Speaking to reporters after meeting the family, he said, as MLA of the locality, Arvind Limbavali is said to have tried to settle things.
'We will win all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in 2024.'
In the wake of the Aazan versus Hanuman Chalisa row in Karnataka, the state government has issued a set of directions on the use of loudspeakers and to remove them if they were not authorised by the 'designated authority.'
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