The Congress is not fielding a candidate in Mandya in order to support Darshan and open the constituency up for a direct contest between the SKP and the Janata Dal-Secular which is hoping to retain its seat.
In an election where every seat will matter, micro-strategising is going to be the order of the day. And in such a situation, party infighting - in all parties --could lead to unpredictable results.
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.
'Some instigators are testing our patience. Hence, our government and the chief minister have given a clear message. In the coming days, we will make arrangements that the criminals should tremble to even think or dream of committing such murders'
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.
Following the alleged desecration of the Maratha king's statue, miscreants in Belagavi shouted slogans and pelted government vehicles with stones and freedom fighter Sangolli Rayanna's statue was subsequently vandalised.
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.
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.
What were our political leaders up to on the weekend?
"The Congress have gone and made promises in Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh that they never fulfilled," Rajeev Chandrasekhar claimed.
He said the cabinet expansion exercise may not take a week's time and a direction from the leadership was likely by Monday.
According to the preliminary information, it was an LED-linked instrument, the chief minister told reporters in Ballari.
Eshwarappa had initially refused to resign as a minister, but was instructed to do so by Bharatiya Janata Party bosses in New Delhi before BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda arrived in Bengaluru for consultations with state party leaders on Friday.
Stirring up controversy, a Lingayat seer on Monday alleged that mutts (monasteries) are equally affected due to rampant corruption prevailing in Karnataka as they too pay a commission of 30 per cent to get the sanctioned grants released for them.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to form 50 states in the country after the 2024 elections. I came to know that he is mulling over it," Umesh Katti, who holds the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs, told reporters in Belagavi.
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.'
While former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi announced his decision to resign from primary membership of the party, minister and six-time MLA S Angara from Sullia constitiuency in Dakshina Kannada district announced his retirement from politics.
'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.'
Voting came to an end for the Karnataka assembly elections on Wednesday at 6 pm with data showing a voter turnout of 65.69 per cent an hour ago.
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.
Chief pontiff of Murugha Math Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, who has been arrested for alleged sexual abuse of two minor girls, was on Friday remanded to police custody till September 5.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would participate in the Karnataka leg of the "Bharat Jodo Yatra" led by Rahul Gandhi that will be entering the state on September 30, state party chief D K Shivakumar said on Friday.
Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagaudar, a Final Year Medical student at Kharkiv National Medical University, died on March 1, in the conflict zone.
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.
The 21-year-old final year student at Kharkiv National Medical University had died on March one, in the conflict zone, tragically becoming India's first casualty in the ongoing offensive in the eastern European nation.
Raut also hit out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, saying the state appeared weak to counter such attacks.
"We had a meeting with experts through video conference regarding the new year celebrations, keeping in mind the COVID-19 and Omicron related cases," Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai told reporters.
The meeting, which lasted for over four hours, was attended by chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of 18 states.
Tourism Minister Anand Singh and Municipal Administration and Small Scale Industries' Minister N Nagaraj (MTB) have openly expressed displeasure over their portfolio, and have sought "weighty" ones.
Bommai on Saturday made it clear that he is not travelling to any foreign country and that there is no question of any new chief minister in Karnataka.
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.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who had seen Puneeth since his childhood, became emotional and was seen kissing his forehead before the last rites.
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.
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.
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in the four states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka was held on Friday, June 10, 2022, amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said no village in Maharashtra has sought merger with Karnataka recently, and there is no question of any border village "going anywhere".
The explosion in a moving autorickshaw in Mangaluru was an 'act of terror,' Karnataka Director General of Police, Praveen Sood said on Sunday.
Success in Karnataka's assembly polls will hinge on two factors: Drop a large number of incumbent MLAs and project Modi and not the state leaders, least of all Bommai.
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