Amid the simmering border dispute, Maharashtra minister Shambhuraj Desai on Wednesday said if Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai does not stop making irresponsible statements, Maharashtra will have to rethink about water supply from its dams to the neighbouring state.
Both the eight-time MLA Shivakumar and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah have made no secret of their ambition to become CM and had been involved in a game of political one upmanship in the past.
All eyes are set on the Karnataka cabinet meeting on Friday where a decision will be taken on implementing the five guarantees promised by the ruling Congress during the assembly elections in May.
Overhaul of the goods and services tax (GST) structure, including possible changes in the tax slabs, may now be taken up only after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, given the number of states that are going to the polls in its run-up. "No major overhaul of tax rates is expected in GST until the end of next fiscal year. One major reason for this is that some members of the group of ministers (GoM) - mandated to look at rate rationalisation by the GST Council - are from poll-bound states. Later, this may lead to reconstitution of the panel," a senior government official told Business Standard. Besides, both the Centre and states are not in favour of frequent changes in the tax rates amid inflationary uncertainties; they believe any major change should be brought in after extensive deliberations, according to the official.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's announcement -- that his government may grant second capital status to Belgaum -- has evoked sharp reactions from political parties in Maharashtra. Maharashtra has been demanding that Marathi speaking areas of Karnataka, including Belgaum, be merged with the state. Leaders of Congress, Shiv Sena and NCP flayed the statement. Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan said Yeddyurappa had spoken out of turn.
If the exit polls in Karnataka are to be believed, the Congress will manage to scrape through and get a thin majority in the state assembly when the votes are counted on Wednesday. But the party may have a tough time in selecting a chief minister as senior leaders Dr G Parameshwar and Siddaramaiah are both eyeing the coveted post.
JD-S leader Siddharamaiah will be the deputy CM.
Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj on Thursday rapped the Bharatiya Janata Party government over inadequate rehabilitation work in the state's flood-hit northern districts, but Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa disagreed with his view and asserted that relief work was going on a 'war-footing'. Bhardwaj said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conducted an aerial survey of the affected districts and announced an aid of Rs 1,000 crore, "but nothing has been done by the state government". "
Asserting that his government still enjoyed a majority even after 13 Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Legislative Assembly announced their resignations, Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Sunday said he was ready to face a No-Confidence Motion moved by the opposition. "I have majority. There is no threat to the government. I am ready to face a No-Confidence Motion if the opposition moves it," he told reporters.
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.
The deadlock between Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and the mining tycoons Reddy brothers of Bellary continued on Wednesday, with the latter going ahead with the foundation stone-laying programme for the construction of houses for the flood victims in North Karnataka.
Karnataka has stopped releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu since Sunday evening, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar told the assembly on Monday.Shettar said the government had filed a review petition in the Supreme Court on its recent directive and challenged the Cauvery Monitoring Committee order.
Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Wednesday criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the September 19 order of the Cauvery River Authority, headed by the PM, on release of water to Tamil Nadu, and said it had no basis and was an "injustice" to the state.
Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai, appointed for coordinating the state's border dispute with Karnataka, are unlikely to visit Belagavi on Tuesday as both have various meetings scheduled in Maharashtra during the day.
We will do whatever we can for the justice of the Marathi-speaking population in Karnataka, said Fadnavis.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who is visiting Karnataka, on Sunday appreciated the people for voting out a 'fascist' Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state, but also cautioned people about the recent developments in Delhi, saying it was a wake-up call for everyone as it can happen anywhere in the country.
According to sources in the Congress, eight legislators are likely to be sworn in as ministers along with them.
Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka over the border row, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Friday said Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa is heaping 'grave atrocities' on Marathi people in the neighbouring state."Marathis are being assaulted with sticks and guns and beaten up like cattle. If the Karnataka government wants to display its masochism by attacking Marathi people, it should remember that Maharashtra is land of Shivaji Maharaj," fumed Thackeray.
Raut said that he did not need anyone's 'permission' regarding the issue.
The on-again, off-again political crisis time in Karnataka continued on Friday when nine ministers loyal to former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa resigned from the state Cabinet.These include Jagadish Shettar, considered to be the chief-minister-in-waiting, Yeddyurappa's close aide Shobha Karandlage and seven others including Basavaraj Bommai, V Somana, Renukacharya, C M Udasi.
'No village in Maharashtra will go to Karnataka! The state government will fight strongly in the Supreme Court to get Marathi speaking villages in Karnataka including Belgaum-Karwar-Nipani!' said Fadnavis.
The 79-year old leader, who served as the chief minister of Kerala twice, breathed his last in a private hospital in Bengaluru at 4.25 am. His end came while undergoing treatment for cancer, party sources said.
With his government facing flak over recent attacks against churches, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Monday blamed certain Christain organisations for flaring up "disharmony and social tension" in the state.
Denying reports of his resignation, Karnataka Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda has said the question of a leadership change does not arise in Karnataka.
Rejecting media reports, Siddaramaiah said he had not slapped any official and some electronic media were carrying out "false" propaganda against him.
The power struggle within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka intensified with sulking former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday taking a dig at his successor D V Sadananda Gowda, saying luck propelled him to the post.
Stoking a controversy, a local Bharatiya Janata Party leader has threatened to behead Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in public if he consumed cow meat in Shivamogga.
Yeddyurappa, who could not stop smiling while the ceremony, said he swore upon God and the farmers' community in Karnataka that he will govern the state to the best of his ability.
Former Karnataka chief minister S R Bommai died in Bangalore on Wednesday after a prolonged illness. He was 84.
A Member of Parliament, representing the Udupi Chikmagalur constituency, Gowda was pitch-forked into the reckoning as a chief ministerial candidate following the resignation of B S Yeddyruppa as he was seen as a non-controversial candidate.
The BJP on Wednesday also named its in-charges for assembly bypolls to four seats in Tripura.
Jayalalithaa was disqualified following her conviction in the Rs 66.66 crore disproportionate assets case by a trial court in Bengaluru on September 27
Karnataka Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde on Saturday issued a notice to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on a complaint against him about denotification of lands.Earlier on Saturday, the Lokayukta expressed regret over his decision to withdraw his resignation over the government's inaction about the massive corruption in the state. While addressing the media at Bengaluru on Saturday, Justice Hegde said that he cannot now undo what has been done and he cannot resign again.
'People will teach a lesson to those who are compromising it for the sake of power and money.'
The Karnataka government on Wednesday launched its ambitious initiative to supply 30 kg of rice at Rs 1 to nearly one crore poor families across the state that would entail an outgo of Rs 4,200 crore a year.
Stepping up its attack on the alleged land scandals, opposition Janata Dal - Secular on Monday accused Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa of denotifying some land in Bengaluru in violation of court rulings and levelled bribery charges against him. Former chief minister and state JD-S president H D Kumaraswamy alleged that Yeddyurappa had denotified more than five acres acquired by the Bangalore Development Authority for a layout at Nagarbhavi.
The meeting between the two leaders, which was also attended by Bihar's deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, was described as 'positive'.
Congress leaders Siddarmaiah and G Parameshwara are likely to leave with a host of other senior leaders to meet with party high command in New Delhi to hold discussions about the Karnataka elections.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Wednesday charged the Maharashtra government with raking up the Belgaum boundary issue to 'cover up' political differences between the ruling alliance partners Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party in the neighbouring state. "The Maharashtra government is raking up the boundary issue to cover up the differences between Congress, NCP in the state and divert the public attention," Yeddyurappa alleged.
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