Pandemonium prevailed in the Karnataka assembly on Wednesday with Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj K S Eshwarappa and State Congress president D K Shivakumar charging towards each other stopping short of coming to blows.
The by-elections are being held to fill the vacancies caused by the disqualification of 17 rebel Congress and Janata Dal-Secular MLAs, whose rebellion led to the collapse of the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in July and paved the way for the BJP to come to power.
The court in Gujarat's Surat city which on Thursday sentenced Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to a two-year jail term in a criminal defamation case noted that the seriousness of his crime increased because a speech delivered by a Member of Parliament has a "very wide impact on the public."
A court in Surat in Gujarat on Thursday sentenced Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his "Modi surname" remarks.
Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Tuesday reiterated that upcoming assembly elections will be his last electoral battle, but he will remain active in Karnataka politics.
All eyes are now on Kumar who has to take a call on the resignations tendered by 13 MLAs of the Congress and the JD-S from the assembly.
The legislature reiterated the state's stand that the issue is a settled one, and not an inch of land will be given to the neighbouring State.
'Why should Khargeji work against the Gandhis for the sake of proving his independence?'
The MLAs -- Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumtalli, Umesh Jadhav, and Nagendra -- did not ascribe any reason for not attending the opening day's session.
The Hassan seat has become a big headache for Janata Dal-Secular, which is witnessing a rebellion within the first family of the party.
Amid signals of disgruntlement among a section of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka over the delay in expansion or reshuffle of the cabinet, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who will be on an official visit to Delhi on April 30, said on Thursday he has not thought about meeting the party high command for now.
With the strategy working in its favour, the BJP could be encouraged to undertake similar steps in states, including Karnataka, where elections are due next year, to counter factors that might work against it.
Modi's BJP has promised more revdis or freebies for these assembly elections than ever before, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
He, however, reiterated his allegation that the BJP was trying to lure MLAs of the ruling combine.
The apex court made it clear that it would deal with the constitutionality of the Governor's letter inviting Yeddyurappa to form the government later.
'What he says, he does.' 'People say if Khargesahab has said something, it will be set in stone.'
'People will teach a lesson to those who are compromising it for the sake of power and money.'
The police said an aged woman had even called her grandson using Shariq's phone.
Karnataka Assembly was on Friday adjourned briefly amid chaos over a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA watching a zoomed in picture of Priyanka Gandhi on his mobile phone during House proceedings.
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.
Ignoring JD-S' request for support, the Congress did not withdraw its second candidate Khan from the fray and issued a whip to all its MLAs asking them to vote for the party's candidates.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were among the 16 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha from four states where polling was held on Friday after tussle over cross voting and alleged breach of election rules delayed the counting by around eight hours in Maharashtra and Haryana.
The veteran politician accused the BJP of breaking duly elected governments in opposition-ruled states even as it boasted about providing a stable government at the Centre.
The economic muscle in the Mangalore region is generally sympathetic to the BJP, says Aditi Phadnis.
The meeting was convened by the party to assess whether its flock was intact amid speculation that some of the MLAs had switched over to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Use of mobile phones in the Karnataka assembly was banned on Friday, a day after the House was rocked by chaos over a Bharatiya Janata Party member watching a zoomed in picture of Priyanka Gandhi during proceedings.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday told a sessions court in Surat his conviction by a magistrate's court in a 2019 defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark was erroneous, patently perverse, and he was sentenced in a manner so as to attract disqualification as a member of Parliament.
'It is this fear that is behind all that has happened to Rahul Gandhi.'
'We are not here to hold brief for Adani. But Gandhi has sought to mislead the people to link his disqualification with Adani. He has been disqualified because of conviction in a case that relates to defamatory remarks he made in 2019'
In his notice to Santhosh, served at the BJP's Karnataka headquarters at Malleswaram in Bengaluru, the investigating officer B Gangadhar cautioned the BJP leader that failure to appear before the SIT for interrogation could lead to his arrest as well.
'They just want to show that the Congress is in disarray.'
The missive to the chief minister came as the MLAs were reportedly shepherded to Mumbai last night and kept in a five-star hotel to apparently prevent them from being poached for the June 11 biennial polls to four RS seats from the state.
A sessions court in Surat on Thursday said it would pronounce on April 20 its order on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea for a stay to his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.
Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar was seemingly persuaded to install a photograph of former deputy prime minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on October 31, his birth anniversary, at an event organised at the Bengaluru party office to mark the death anniversary of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
The RPF officer said a team of personnel of the force was accompanying the mortal remains to Sawai Madhopur and they will carry them to his native place from the railway station for the last rites.
L Murugan, 44, is the only newly-sworn minister who is not a member of Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha.
Seeking to consolidate its position in Rajya Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party is banking on independents for four additional seats and is seeking to capitalise on the infighting within the Congress in as many states in the June 10 biennial election.
Jeevaraj's speech has come at a time when the police are still unsure of the motives behind Gauri's murder.
Ending the suspense about the Hassan seat, the party has fielded H P Swaroop, overlooking JD-S patriarch and former PM H D Deve Gowda's daughter-in-law Bhavani Revanna, who had been firm on contesting from there.
