Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday ruled out his resignation, following the Governor granting sanction to prosecute him, in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment 'scam', and said he had done no wrong to step down.
The denotification bug has come to hit the Karnataka government yet again. Two more cases have surfaced and this time Home Minister R Ashok is under the scanner.
According to him, the purpose behind such allotment was to help these organisations grow and with that its ideologies should also grow.
The state government proposes to undertake more reforms in the police department, he said, as he also highlighted the need for equipping police personnel with sophisticated weapons.
A Special Court in Bengaluru on Wednesday ordered a Lokayukta police probe against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) site allotment case.
The ruling party legislators have expressed serious reservations about MLCs not elected by the people being made ministers, lack of representation to certain regions, with most ministers still from Bengaluru and Belagavi districts and also on their 'seniority or sacrifice' not being considered.
As the three dissident ministers continued their defiant stance against him, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday talked tough, hinting at 'stern action' against them."These people cannot cow me down. They are worried about my popularity graph," Yeddyurappa told reporters.Yeddyurappa said he has asked the party central leadership to take action against Tourism Minister G Janardhana Reddy, Revenue Minister G Karunakara Reddy and Health Minister B Sreeramulu.
More than Rs 8 crore unaccounted cash has been seized in subsequent raids at various locations by Lokayukta. The arrested officer's father is Madal Virupakshappa, the MLA representing Channagiri constituency in Davangere district of the state.
The Rajat Patidar-led team was received by state's Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar at the airport.
At least nine people were injured when a blast took place at Rameshwaram Cafe in Brookfield in East Bengaluru on March 1.
Without naming Gandhi and referring to the Congress leader's remarks made in London -- that structures of Indian democracy are under 'brutal attack', Modi termed it an insult to 12th century social reformer Basaveshwara, the people of Karnataka, India's great traditions and its citizens.
Amidst alleged power struggles within the ruling Congress in Karnataka, AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala has called for discipline within the party, emphasizing that the party is paramount. This comes as the state's chief minister and deputy chief minister submitted a consolidated report on the performance of 31 ministers to Surjewala, fueling speculation about a potential cabinet reshuffle.
He said the cabinet expansion exercise may not take a week's time and a direction from the leadership was likely by Monday.
'Destabilising the Yediyurappa government is not a cakewalk.' 'If he is destabilised, then the BJP will have problems in Karnataka.'
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.
'But I know why he did it.' 'He was being heckled by BJP members who were mocking the Congress.' 'In that context, he quoted the song to tell them: "We know your anthem, we know your ideology, we know how divisive you are".' 'It was not an endorsement.'
Marshals had to forcefully evict the BJP MLAs who had surrounded the Speaker's chair.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, former chief minister B S Yediyurappa, IT industry veteran N R Narayana Murthy along with wife Sudha Murty, and Mysuru royal family member 'Rajamate' Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, were among the early voters who cast their ballot in the Karnataka Assembly polls.
Asserting that his government will implement the five poll 'guarantees' promised ahead of the assembly polls, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said officials have shared their inputs on financial implications, and the cabinet will meet on June 2 to decide on the implementation.
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.
The Congress in its poll manifesto had promised to undo the changes made to school textbooks when the Bharatiya Janata Party was in power, and had also promised to scrap National Education Policy.
Opposition parties in India, including the Congress, Left parties, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP), have unanimously hailed the armed forces' "Operation Sindoor", a retaliatory strike against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The operation, which involved missile and drone strikes, was conducted in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Despite political differences, all parties expressed support for the government and the armed forces, stressing the importance of national unity and integrity in the face of terrorism. While emphasizing the need for diplomatic avenues to prevent further escalation, some parties also called for caution in attributing political credit for the strikes.
Caste census politics took centre stage on Thursday with the Congress terming the government's decision as a 'diversionary tactic' and a move for headlines management and the Bharatiya Janata Party saying it has exposed the difference between the Centre's 'true intentions' and the 'empty sloganeering' of the opposition party.
Their resignations came shortly after 21 ministers of coalition partner Congress quit the cabinet.
The legendary Rahul Dravid expressed deep anguish over the death of 11 people in a stampede during Royal Challengers Bengaluru's IPL victory celebrations.
Sniping at the BJP senior leadership has reached a new high in Karnataka. For the moment, there is a truce, but the party knows the damage it could do ahead of the polls.
'I didn't expect such a crowd and support in the first season.'
The private complaint against Yediyurppa alleged that during his tenure as the chief minister from 2008-12, he illegally de-notified 20 acres from land acquisition proceedings to give undue favours to private parties.
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 Karnataka CM is facing allegations of illegalities in the allotment of 14 sites to his wife Parvathi B M by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA).
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday named 72 more candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, including Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Anurag Singh Thakur, and former chief ministers Manohar Lal Khattar, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Basavaraj Bommai.
Fourteen people were killed and 24 sustained injuries in two separate road accidents in Karnataka's Uttara Kannada and Raichur districts on Wednesday. The first accident occurred when a truck carrying 29 fruit sellers fell into a 50-meter-deep valley in Yellapura. The second accident occurred near Araginamara Camp in Sindhanur, where a vehicle carrying students of Mantralaya Sanskrit Pathashala overturned due to a tyre burst. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah expressed condolences and announced compensation for the families of the deceased.
Ramachandra Rao is presently serving as the Managing Director of the Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation.
Earlier, deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also the state party chief, also had separate meetings with Parameshwara and Jarkiholi.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said he will not hesitate from facing investigation in a site allotment issue but added that he would consult legal experts to find out whether such a probe is allowed under law.
Karnataka would vote on May 10, and the results will be declared on May 13.
Maharashtra has signed MoUs totalling Rs 1.4 lakh crore at Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, following Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's meetings with a number of business leaders, the state government said on Wednesday. Karnataka, too, signed MoUs with investment proposals to the tune of Rs 22,000 crore with seven companies.
As many as 11 people died and 33 injured following a stampede near the Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium in Bengaluru, where a large number of people had thronged to participate in the RCB team's IPL victory celebrations on Wednesday.
State governments have requested the Centre for export incentives, lifting of import duty in the case of cotton for the textile sector and GST exemptions.
With the demand to have three more Deputy chief ministers resurfacing in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said the decision of the Congress high command is final.