A video released on Monday, the second in two days, shows the two leaders presenting a united front in the polls and exchanging notes on the Congress campaign.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after a Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday said that the government has decided to go for open market tender to procure rice, whose process will start from Thursday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party lined up several promises, including a legislation to protect traditions of the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala and a law against "love jihad", while assuring employment for at least one person from each family and free laptops to high school students, in its manifesto for the assembly polls unveiled in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday claimed that contrary to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's "false propaganda" that the population of Muslim community was increasing in the country, the number of the minority community members vis-a-vis Hindus was fast declining, and added that he could prove it.
The Supreme Court on Friday directed listing of pleas, which have raised the issue relating to the practice of political parties promising freebies, before a three-judge bench.
Only one in four workers in Karnataka receive a salary, the lowest among the four industrialised states of India, a Business Standard analysis of the latest annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data shows. While 31.6 per cent workers in Gujarat receive regular wages (or salaries), followed by Tamil Nadu (30.3 per cent) and Maharashtra (29.4 per cent), only 25.7 per cent workers in Karnataka receive the same. The figure stands at 21.5 per cent at the national level, according to the 2021-22 PLFS data.
Singh Deo will, however, remain the minister for Health and Family Welfare, Medical Education, Twenty Point Implementation and Commercial Tax departments.
A total of 16 resolutions were passed in the crucial All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general council meeting held in Chennai on Monday in which Edappadi K Palaniswami was appointed as the party's interim general secretary and O Paneerselvam was expelled for "anti-party" activities.
Multiple challenges, particularly with regard to cabinet formation, stare at Siddaramaiah as he takes over as the new chief minister of Karnataka, nudging out party colleague and state Congress president D K Shivakumar -- who will now be his deputy.
The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Replying to a question on the Enforcement Directorate raids at many places including at the premises of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's nephew, Sidhu slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre over the raids and said the ED took action after nearly four years of the registration of the case.
"I can say with confidence that the BJP will form the government in the state," he reiterated.
Speaking to reporters, Sitharaman, a senior BJP leader, said, "It is a manifesto announcement. A party can announce what it wants to do when it comes to power. That is exactly what is announced. Health is a state subject. It is perfectly in order."
Modi said whenever Congress came back, all development works came to a standstill.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at the BJP, saying one has to refer to the state-wise election schedule to know when one will have access to the vaccine. The BJP, however, said health is a state subject and its manifesto is for Bihar, not for the entire country, where it has promised that the state will buy the vaccine for its people.
Allocation of portfolios would be the immediate vexatious issue for the party, with supporters of Virbhadra Singh already feeling sidelined after the elevation of the late chief minister's professed rival Sukhu.
The Congress refrained from commenting on any peace formula between Gehlot and Pilot.
Many in the party feel it has played a critical role in boosting the Congress' electoral fortunes in the state and its impact is there for everyone to see.
How do you bring about better nutrition consciousness in a society that is quite apathetic to excess consumption of salt, sugar and fats? asks Ambi Parameswaran.
Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said though there is no pre-poll adjustment with the Tipra Motha, there can be local-level understanding with the tribal party, which has emerged as the third pole in the upcoming Tripura elections.
The party also promised to end the mafia raj by creating corporations for the sale of liquor and sand mining.
Citizens belonging to different religions and denominations follow different property and matrimonial laws which is 'an affront to the nation's unity', the Centre had said last year in its affidavit in the Supreme Court on the Uniform Civil Code matter.
'Religion has divided our country like it never had done.' 'I can't remember a time of such focused hatred.'
The Congress victory in Karnataka, its first big state since 2018, puts the party back in the game for general elections as it re-establishes primacy in the opposition space that is currently vastly fragmented despite efforts to cobble up a united front against the BJP.
As Karnataka gears up for D-Day, with most exit poll projections predicting a hung assembly while putting the Congress in the lead, the outcome will boil down to how the battle for some key constituencies play out.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the BJP's poll promises in Bihar.
'UCC should be across India and legally applicable to every Indian citizen.'
What some of our leaders were up to on Friday, November 11.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to list for hearing a PIL filed by former Rajya Sabha lawmaker Subramanian Swamy seeking a direction to the Centre to declare the Ram Setu as a national heritage monument.
It is widely believed that Gandhi has put his foot down to blunt the Bharatiya Janata Party's allegation of "dynasty rule" in the Congress.
On Thursday, Scindia told the guest teachers in the state, stating that he would be their 'shield and sword' if all promises in the party's manifesto were not fulfilled.
Rather than a blind reproduction of the government template, a more productive way of enforcing affirmative action in the private sector could be to emulate an American model, suggests Kanika Datta.
Given that the BJP made all these moves and that these moves were presumably approved by Modi if not directed by him, who should accept the responsibility for the party's rout? asks Aakar Patel.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday finally agreed to step down as Conservative Party leader, triggering a leadership election for a new Tory leader who will go on to become the new premier, according to reports from Downing Street.
The meeting between the two leaders, which was also attended by Bihar's deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, was described as 'positive'.
'The only thing that makes Nitish Kumar acceptable to Biharis, to the Mahagatbandhan allies, is the BJP.'
Almost every year, three to four waves of flood ravage Assam. The average annual loss due to the disaster is to the tune of Rs 200 crore, according to a state government website.
The apex court said the ministry will inform the court about the decision taken by the Centre.
The prime minister says he will bring real change to Bengal. Perhaps he will. The interesting thing is that his party has never defined what this change is, observes Aakar Patel.
Kharge or somebody else, whoever becomes the chief, he will only be a face to show, Sushil Modi said.
