Congress leaders discuss strategy for Karnataka by-polls

News Network
November 11, 2019

Bengaluru, Nov 11: In the wake of the upcoming by-elections in Karnataka, Congress leaders on Monday held a meeting here to discuss strategy and candidates for the respective seats.

Present in the meeting were Siddaramaiah, Dinesh Gundu Rao, BK Hariprasad, Rahman Khan, Eshwar Khandre. KH Muniyappa, Saleem Ahmad and MM Pallam Raju.

"We are ready to fight the by-polls. We have made all the arrangements. We have shortlisted the names of the probable candidates from the Congress party and those who defected from Congress party will be taught a lesson this time," Khandre told media here.

"Nothing is good in the BJP. They are not moving forward on what they had promised. The way they have formed the government here, even the people are against them," he added.

According to sources, Hariprasad, Rahman Khan and Muniyappa left KPCC office in between the meeting as they were not happy with Siddaramaiah's attitude about his proposal to allot tickets to only his supporters.

However, Dinesh Gundu Rao denied the reports and said, "It was a collective discussion. There was no walkout. There is unnecessary speculation in media. Everything was discussed in a very good manner. After the meeting was concluded, they left."

Asked how confident he is in the disqualification case of 17 Congress and JDS MLAs, Rao said, "I am 100 per cent sure that the judgement will go in our favour."

He further said, "Many people of the BJP are fed up of the present BJP government including their sitting MLAs... I think the Chief Minister has not been able to focus on anything - governance or issues. He is more interested in by-election, he is more interested in saving his own chair. Support is not there from his own party... Simply they are making announcements and doing programs just for the sake of by-elections. I think once the by-elections are over, then all these things will not even be implemented. So, to win the by-elections, they are focussing on these constituencies. This is a very gross misuse of government machinery."

He said that the BS Yediyurappa-led government is "very weak".

"It's a directionless government, aimless government, no vision, nothing for the state, they have failed on the flood situation, there is no administration. The coalition government was far superior to this BJP government," Rao said.

The date for filing nominations for the by-elections to the 15 Assembly seats in Karnataka are from November 11-18, said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the state, Sanjeev Kumar, on Sunday.

The date of polling has been set for December 5, while the counting of votes is scheduled to begin on November 9, Kumar said.

According to Kumar, more than 37 lakh 50 thousand voters will decide the fate of candidates in the upcoming by-polls, including 19.12 lakh male voters and 18.37 lakh female voters while 399 come under the others category.

The CEO added that a total of 4185 polling booths will be set up for the by-elections and a total of 22,958 polling personnel will be required for the smooth conduct of the elections which will be done using Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPATs).

The elections to the 15 Assembly seats were earlier slated for October 21 but later postponed to December 5 by the Election Commission (EC) as the case pertaining to the disqualification of 17 MLAs was pending in the Supreme Court.

The judgement on their disqualification was reserved by the apex court last month.

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News Network
March 21,2024

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Mangaluru: A man from Dakshina Kannada was duped of Rs 2.5 lakh after he was promised a Poland visa.

In a complaint, a resident of Belthangady, stated that the accused, Manoj, had promised a job for his son in Poland. 

Between May 22 of last year and March 19, he handed over Rs 2.2 lakh in various phases, citing different reasons.

However, since the accused failed to provide a visa or return the money, a case was registered at the Dharmasthala police station under IPC sections 417 and 420.

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News Network
March 22,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 22: An FIR has been registered against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya over a provocative hate post on social media, Election Commission officials said on Friday.

The move comes after a complaint filed by officials of the poll body and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) that the Bengaluru South MP, who is also the President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, had in a post apparently targeted a minority and spread enmity between two communities.

He also made a similar post on March 19 on X and YouTube which went viral. He has 1.3 million followers on X, thereby influencing the voters and disturbing the communal harmony between the communities, it further alleged.

Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered at Halasuru Gate police station on March 20 under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 295 A (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code and the Representation of the People Act, the officials said.

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News Network
March 17,2024

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Bengaluru: The Vokkaliga heartland of the old Mysuru region consisting of several southern districts will be the testing ground for the recently forged BJP-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka in the Lok Sabha polls.

The ruling Congress will now look to consolidate its gains that it made in the assembly elections in May last year when it made inroads into the strongholds of the regional party headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda in these districts.

In the 2019 Pariamentary elections, the Congress and JD(S) fought together but secured only one seat each in the state. The BJP bagged 25 out of the total 28 Lok Sabha seats.

The Congress and JD(S) win, in fact, came in the old Mysuru region -- Bangalore Rural and Hassan, respectively, while Mandya seat went to an independent backed by the BJP.

This time, the JD(S) has an alliance with BJP. According to sources, the JD(S) is likely to be alloted Hassan, Mandya and Kolar seats in the region, from where Deve Gowda's party draws its strength from in Karnataka.

The JD(S) is now looking to bounce back after the drubbing it received in the May assembly polls.

The Congress and JD(S) are considered to be traditional rivals in the region, where the BJP has also been improving its vote-share.

The BJP-JD(S) alliance hopes to counter the Congress' surge in the region, determined to consolidate Vokkaliga votes in their favour and banking on the Modi charisma. Both parties also hope to gain from each other with this alliance.

The Congress is hoping to further its prospects and continue its dominance in the region, with the help of its strong local leadership and riding on its five guarantee schemes.

Both Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Congress state President D K Shivakumar, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister come from this region, and so does JD(S) patriarch Deve Gowda and his son H D Kumaraswamy, a former CM and that party's state President.

According to a political analyst, 'coordination among local leaders and transfer of votes between the parties are going to be key for the BJP-JD(S) alliance to click.' Lack of trust between sizeable workers and leaders of both parties on the ground had proved to be counterproductive for Congress and JD(S) combine in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, resulting in their rout and helping the BJP.

Both Congress and BJP have announced candidates for some seats in the region for the 2024 polls.

The Congress has re-nominated D K Suresh, brother of Shivakumar, from Bangalore Rural.

Interestingly, the BJP has fielded the scion of the erstwhile Mysuru royal family Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar from Mysore and noted cardiac surgeon and Deve Gowda's son-in-law, Dr C N Manjunath, from Bangalore Rural.

In Karnataka, the Lok Sabha elections will be held in two phases on April 26 and May 7.

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