The Congress will not finalise a pre-poll alliance with B S Yeddyurappa's Karnataka Janata Paksha, senior party leader Veerappa Moily said on Monday.
Vicky Nanjappa gives a lowdown on the Karnataka assembly election
The action group will be known as Parliamentarians with Innovators for India (PIIndia.org), which aims to spur innovators to solve challenges in areas such as public health, economy, and livelihood. While the 14 parliamentarians come from different states and across party lines, the group has organisations like Population Foundation of India, Centre for Policy Research, Omnicuris, apart from top experts in public health and policy.
The eight members -- distributed among the Congress, Communist Party of India-Marxist, Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party -- were suspended earlier in the day for the remainder of the Monsoon Session over their 'unruly behaviour' during the passage of farm Bills in the Upper House of Parliament.
"It is natural that people cannot tolerate those who are growing. Vijayendra in no way at any moment has interfered (in administration). "As state vice president (BJP), he is doing his duty by travelling across the state to strengthen the party," Yediyurappa said in response to a question.
'We all are together and whatever decision we have taken.. at any cost no question of going back (on resignations)'
The report of the Karnataka minorities commission on the alleged Rs 2 lakh crore Wakf property scam generated considerable heat in the Legislative assembly, where an agitated opposition demanded a thorough enquiry and punishment to those found guilty.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Members of Parliament rushed to New Delhi on Thursday to meet Election Commission officials and seek permission and exemption to cast their votes in Chennai for the forthcoming Presidential poll. Taking a cue from
Congress MLA B C Patil also said the Bharatiya Janata Party is not involved (in footing the travel and accommodation bill).
The suspended Congress MLA made it clear he would not fly to Mumbai or Delhi, unlike the other disgruntled MLAs who have camped in a Mumbai hotel.
If their resignations are accepted, they may even go back to Bengaluru, they added.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said if the Congress had formed an alliance with the Janata Dal-Secular before the election, the results would have been different.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister and state Janata Dal-Secular President H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday dismissed the need for a House inquiry panel to probe the porngate scandal involving three former Bharatiya Janata Party ministers.
Even as Karnataka continues to release water to Tamil Nadu as per the directive of the Cauvery River Waters Authority, all the members of Legislative Assembly from the Janata Dal-Secular have tendered their resignations against this move by the Karnataka government.
"We have met Governor H R Bhardwaj and requested him to recommend to the Central government to dissolve the Assembly and dismiss the state government under Article 356 for failing to govern as per Constitutional laws," opposition leader in the assembly Siddaramaiah told media persons.
As soon as the assembly met, Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda informed the members about the resignations of the three ministers, caught on camera watching sleazy clippings on their mobile phone in the House on Tuesday evening
Earlier, I had asked for 12 seats. At the meeting, I requested Rahulji to give at least 10 seats to the JDS, Gowda told reporters.
While Nagaraj made no clear announcement of taking back resignation, the same was affirmed by Shivakumar while speaking to media outside Nagaraj's residence.
The BJP has less than five months to straighten things out to taken on the Lingayat strongman in the May 2013 elections, says Aditi Phadnis
A week after snapping his four decade old association with BJP, former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday dubbed it 'a bigger evil' than Congress and Janata Dal-Secular and vowed never to return to his former party.
This was the second time D K Shivakumar foiled Amit A Shah's plans.
In a major embarrassment to the Bharatiya Janata Party's Karnataka unit, Pranab Mukherjee, United Progressive Alliance's candidate who was on Sunday elected President of India, got more votes than expected in the BJP-ruled state.
About 55 to 60 per cent voters on Sunday exercised their franchise in the Udupi-Chikmaglur Lok Sabha bye-election where ruling BJP faces a litmus test, locked in a bitter contest with Congress and Janata Dal-Secular.
'It must have stung Devendra Fadnavis to see Modi asking MPs at the BJP parliamentary party meeting to give Yediyurappa a standing ovation for his victory in the by-elections that has resulted in pulling the BJP government in Karnataka off the ventilator,' notes Aditi Phadnis.
The Karnataka Legislative Assembly Committee probing the porngate episode involving three former BJP ministers on Wednesday began its three-day sitting, amid continued boycott by Congress and Janata Dal Secular members, saying it would try to submit its report by the March 13 deadline set by the speaker.
'Why is the entire Cabinet running around in Bangalore?' 'Why are they making arrangements for horse-trading?' 'Is this not the BJP's greed for power?' 'They have won the entire country. Why are they so desperate for Karnataka?'
Congress leaders KC Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah were involved in attempts to topple the JD-S-Congress government in Karnataka.
The memorandum said that the responsibility of overcoming the impact of the Maoist violence is not the responsibility of the state governments alone; it is a phenomenon that spans across several states. Therefore, the Union government also has a responsibility.
In more trouble to Karnataka Janata Dal-Secular chief H D Kumaraswamy, the Lokayukta special court on Monday ordered an investigation into a private complaint filed against him alleging illegalities in denotification of government land in 2007 when he was the chief minister.
D V Sadananda Gowda who replaced B S Yeddyurappa as the chief Minister of Karnataka won the elections to the Karnataka legislative assembly on Thursday.
Former Karnataka chief minister and state Janata Dal-Secular president H D Kumraswamy on Monday hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party strongman B S Yeddyurappa for 'indulging in theatrics' over the drought situation in Karnataka.
Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday indirectly blamed Governor H R Bhardwaj for delay in the appointment of Lokayukta asserting that the government has followed precedents and the ball was in his court.
Congress has criticised Janata Dal Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy, son of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, after the former revealed that his father was offered a bribe for defence deals. Congress spokesperson Renuka Chaudhary questioned why the statement by Kumaraswamy was being aired in the media after over a decade.
BJP let Yeddyurappa get away with indiscretions as it did not want to rock the boat in Karnataka, says Aditi Phadnis
Having run the government with a "one-man cabinet" for over 20 days, Yediyurappa on Saturday got a go-ahead from Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah to undertake the exercise on August 20.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister S Bangarappa has filed a petition before the Election Commission of India praying to disqualify Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa from his membership of the state assembly, alleging that the latter has furnished "false" affidavit concerning his assets and liabilities.
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.
Vajpayee had resigned just 13 days after being in power due to lack of numbers.
The Janata Dal-Secular in Karnataka said on Sunday that Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa was responsible for the "instability" of the BJP government and not the opposition. "The chief minister himself is responsible for the instability of his government and not the opposition parties," JDS state unit president H D Kumaraswamy said while participating in a function here.
Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy's remarks that Mahatma Gandhi would have turned corrupt in the present day politics on Monday drew sharp reaction from leaders including Gandhian Anna Hazare, who wondered how the country could eliminate corruption if leaders talk like this.