Amid the looming threat of more resignations by ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ministers and legislators loyal to B S Yeddyurappa, Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar Wednesday said his government is stable and that he did not expect further resignations.
A verbal duel of sorts has erupted between two senior ministers -- M B Patil and Shivanand Patil -- about seniority as the yardstick to become the Chief Minister.
Bowing to pressure from B S Yeddyurappa, Bharatiya Janata Party appears set to replace Karnataka Chief Minister Sadanand Gowda with Lingayat leader Jagadish Shettar and an announcement is expected within a week.
While one headache for the Bharatiya Janata Party is over on Wednesday with the appointment of a new chief minister in Sadananda Gowda, the other one that remains is to keep the rival faction happy.
Shettar was selected as the chief minister during the legislature party meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party held in Bengaluru.
Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Sunday hoped Bharatoya Janata Party strongman B S Yeddyurappa would not leave the party and said efforts were on by the central leadership to retain him.
Buckling under B S Yeddyurappa's pressure, Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday decided to replace Sadananda Gowda with Jagdish Shettar as the chief minister of Karnataka marking the third change in the state in four years. The decision was taken at the BJP core group meeting in New Delhi on Saturday, sources said.
There seems to be no end to the woes of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka.The meeting of the legislature party -- to elect Jagadish Shettar as its leader and the next chief minister -- has been delayed following a massive protest by supporters of incumbent CM Sadananda Gowda.
Jagadish Shettar will be the BJP's chief ministerial candidate in the Karnataka Assembly polls, Rajnath Singh said on Monday, even as he downplayed the issue of corruption that has plagued the party-led government in the southern state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar supremo Sharad Pawar were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Tuesday to caste their votes in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
'My son did tell me about Neha and that he was in love with her and they wanted to get married. But I had suggested that he first focus on his career'
'They sent a message that I will not be given the ticket and ordered me to issue a statement -- Gujarat style -- that with immediate effect I was retiring from politics.' 'They were treating me like a political novice who would be pushed around on the order of vested interests.' 'This rude behaviour hurt a lot. It was then I spontaneously decided that I will challenge this dictatorial order and expose all those who want to hurt Lingayat pride in Karnataka.'
A win on his home turf Hubli has become a matter of both survival and prestige for Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar as he is going the whole hog for a fifth victory from Hubli-Dharwad constituency.
Here's how some of the heavyweights fared in the Karnataka elections.
Jagadish Shettar will be the new Chief Minister of Karnataka--the third in four years--and will be sworn in on Thursday after he was elected leader of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party today amid high drama over demands from warring factions before the change of guard.
The party fielded Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur, while Uttar Pradesh minister Jitin Prasada has replaced Varun Gandhi in Pilibhit.
While former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi announced his decision to resign from primary membership of the party, minister and six-time MLA S Angara from Sullia constitiuency in Dakshina Kannada district announced his retirement from politics.
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.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's comprehensive defeat to the Congress in Karnataka where the two parties ran a campaign of contrasts has left the ruling party much to ponder as the two rivals are facing a direct contest in three more state polls this year in the run-up to the all-important 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
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.
The Opposition Congress on Saturday seemed to be on course to breach rival Bharatiya Janata Party's lone southern citadel Karnataka, inching towards the magic figure of 113 needed to form a government on its own.
Weighed down by anti-incumbency, the BJP heavily banked on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal appeal to enable it to sail through in the assembly elections but it was not to be.
'We will win all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in 2024.'
Polling is being held for 224 seats in what is being seen mainly as a three-cornered contest between the ruling BJP, the Congress and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's Janata Dal-Secular.
'Siddaramaiah was openly taking on the BJP's communal agenda, which very few non-BJP politicians do.'
What some of our leaders were up to in the last couple of days.
Behind its high-decibel campaign, powered by well-organised party machinery, the BJP also appears to have made a slight departure from its 'next generation' approach to stay ahead of an aggressive Congress and enhance its prospects of securing a majority of seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday released its first list of 189 candidates for the May 10 Karnataka assembly polls, fielding Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai from his traditional Shiggaon constituency.
"The Congress have gone and made promises in Punjab, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh that they never fulfilled," Rajeev Chandrasekhar claimed.
While the ruling BJP, riding on the Modi juggernaut, wants to break the 38-year jinx and retain its southern citadel, the Congress is seeking to wrest power to give the party much-needed elbow room and momentum to position itself as the main opposition player in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said if the Congress comes to power in Karnataka, dynastic politics will be at an all-time high in the state and it will be 'afflicted with riots'.
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.
Karnataka Minister Umesh Katti died due to cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Tuesday night, official sources said.
'Bommai was a minister in my cabinet. It is not ethically correct.'
Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party president Nalin Kumar Kateel has dismissed as fake an audio clip that hints at possible leadership change in the state, and said it was not his voice.
The Congress fielded former Governor Margaret Alva's son Nivedit Alva from the Kumta assembly seat.
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.
Senior politician Basavaraj Horatti, who recently resigned as the chairman of Karnataka legislative council and MLC, on Wednesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Congress, by and large, focused on local issues in this election and its campaign also was run by state leaders initially.
The party bagged 11 of the 25 seats, from 20 Local Authorities' constituencies in the state, for which the biennial election was held on December 10, and counting was taken up today, poll officials said.
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