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Speaking to media persons in Bangalore, BJP leader and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said that as per constitutional provisions, <b>elections must be conducted within six months of dissolution of the assembly.
President's rule was imposed in the state on November 20, 2007 and assembly dissolved on November 28.</b>
Blaming Congress of 'making concerted efforts to delay the election', he alleged that fear of defeat was driving Congress towards working for a delayed election.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>Maharashtra Governor Krishna resigns</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Krishna, who was in Bangalore on Tuesday, was summoned by Congress President Sonia Gandhi last night to Delhi, where she asked him to quit the governor's post and return to Karnataka to lead Congress in the coming elections.
<b>Gandhi had a two-hour-long discussion with Krishna on the political situation in Karnataka and cleared his return to state politics</b>. The Election Commission has said that it will take a decision on the Karnataka polls by April 15.
The former Karnataka Chief Minister was appointed Maharashtra Governor in 2004 but the IT savvy leader was uncomfortable in the post and had been expressing desire to relinquish it for the last several months
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Cong veteran Jaffer Sharief is bad mouthing S.M.Krishna in all the TV interviews that he is giving.
He is calling krishna a failure under whom congress was reduced to half the seats that it had won in the previous elections. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Get ready for spilt in the congess in Kar with Siddaramiah also not happy with the re-entry of krishna in kar poltics.
Big blow
* M P Prakash and 10 former MLAs to quit JD(S)
* They had rebelled against Gowdaâs unilateral decisions
* They have not yet announced their future course action
10 ex-MLAs also quitting
The Janata Dal (Secular) on Wednesday received a jolt with senior party leader M P Prakash and 10 other former MLAs deciding to severe ties with it.
Prakash and the others took the decision in protest against the âabsence of internal democracyâ in the party and âunilateral decisionsâ taken by H D Deve Gowda and his sons.
âWe have taken this decision with great agony and anguish,â Prakash announced to the media after passing a resolution to this effect at a meeting of âlike-mindedâ leaders here in Bangalore.
The breakaway faction, however, did not divulge their next course of action. All that Prakash said after much insistence was that he and his supporters have received invitations from almost all parties. A four-member committee will be formed to weigh the various options and take a final decision, he added.
âNo new partyâ
<b>âOptions are open on going to the BSP, SP, Congress and BJP. Leaders of these parties are in touch with me,â the former home minister said. But he ruled out the possibility of launching a separate outfit.</b>
Besides Prakash, others who have decided to quit the party are H S Mahadev Prasad, Amaregouda Bayyapur, Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, Suryanarayana Reddy, B C Patil, H Anjaneya, M Y Patil, K N Rajanna, Narasimha Nayak and Balraj. Many of these leaders including Prakash belong to the Lingayat community.
Prakash claimed that Santhosh Lad and Ravikanth Patil, who were not present at the meeting, are also supporting him and are quitting.
Two JD(S) MLCs B T Channabasappa and B Chidanand and leaders like H Ekantaiah, S M Nagaraj, T M Chandrashekar and several others will also quit the party, he said.
Asked about former CM H D Kumaraswamyâs statement that he has been waiting for Prakash to change his mind, the former home minister curtly said there is no need for anybody to wait.
With this, another veteran leader of the JD(S) has parted ways with Deve Gowda. Other senior leaders who have moved away from Gowda ever since the inception of the Janata Dal include the late Ramakrishna Hegde, the late S R Bommai, the late J H Patel, P G R Sindhia and Siddaramaiah.
Prakashâs decision has come at a time when the party is badly in need of a powerful Lingayat leader to soothen the ruffled sentiments of the Lingayat community. Lingayats are believed to be enraged at the Dal betrayal of BJPâs B S Yeddyurappa, who is also a Lingayat, on power transfer.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Rumours that M P Prakash may join Congress but not confirmed.
<b>Bangalore, UNI: Former Karnataka Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader B N Bachegowda today joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with scores of his supporters.</b>
Talking to newspersons soon after formally joining the party in the presence of senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu and former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, Mr Bachegowda alleged that the JD (S) did not make use of his potential properly.
<b>BJP was not a communal party as viewed by other parties and it offered internal freedom to leaders, he claimed.</b>
Welcoming Mr Bachegowda into the party, Mr Naidu said the Congress was panicky that it would bite the dust in the coming State Assembly polls and was trying to ensure postponement of elections.
But, defeat for the Congress was imminent. <b>Congress President Sonia Gandhi's leadership had failed to garner votes for the party and the result was the defeat of the Congress in ten out of 11 States which went to the polls after the 2004 general elections, he pointed out.</b>
He said people would teach the Congress a fitting lesson for its ''irresponsible'' dealing of issues such as price rise of essential commodities and farmers' suicide. The farm loan waiver announced by Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram was a big hoax, he ridiculed.
On the re-entry of former Maharashtra Governor S M Krishna into State politics, <b>Mr Naidu said Mr Krishna was a 'tried, tired and failed horse.''</b> It was during his leadership that the Congress was reduced in strength in the last Assembly elections, he recalled.
He demanded that the Centre accept the Kerala High Court recommendations and despatch Central forces immediately to Kannur to control the political violence there.
Deccan Chronile, 15 mar., 2008
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Congress should go for early polls in Karnataka
By Arun Nehru
Election season is in full swing and hence itâs time to play musical chairs. Will the Tripura result â a landslide CPI(M) victory â have any impact on West Bengal, where the Left seems to be making up lost ground even as the Congress and Trinamul look to the future for an "arrangement"? The results in Nagaland and Meghalaya have been on predictable lines. The Congress held its ground and came close to a simple majority, although the regional parties put up a strong fight. In these two states, at least, musical chairs will continue until a power and asset-sharing agreement is reached.
In Meghalaya, for instance, the governor invites the Congress and D.D. Lapang is sworn in hurriedly and has 10 days to prove his majority. I suppose 48 hours is sufficient for a few MLAs to switch positions. This, when P.A. Sangma, former Speaker and NCP candidate for chief ministership, had cobbled together a coalition â the Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) has 31 of the 60 MLAs â but this was not good enough for the governor. The MPA went to the Supreme Court. I suspect we will see a repetition of events that took place in Jharkhand, Goa and Bihar in the past few years. Nagalandâs situation is also, as they say, fluid. The Democratic Alliance of Nagaland won the largest number of seats and paraded 33 MLAs (out of an Assembly of 60). The governor is yet to take a decision and I wonder if this delay will help the Congress muster a majority.
Meghalaya and Nagaland will be subject to constant instability. This is unfortunate, given that security issues are a concern here. If a poll verdict is negated by defections, then the situation will deteriorate. Political policy in the border states has to be different from the general areas. The Kashmir experiment by the Congress â where the PDP with fewer seats was given the power to govern â was the right decision. Greater attention has to be paid to political arrangements in the Northeast, a major area of terror infiltration.
In an era of coalitions, the Congress is losing its majority status but still has sufficient numbers to work out alliances with regional forces and ensure good governance. The trend will be evident in the Lok Sabha elections. The acid test may well come in Assam with 13 seats. An alliance between the Asom Gana Parishad and the BJP and anti-incumbency are crucial factors. This may be a problem for the Congress.
There is little advantage for the Congress in early elections. Political accidents are very much still a reality. The progress of the BJP-led NDA and the Left-SP-dominated Third Front will have to be closely watched to generate a reliable picture. Undoubtedly, Sonia Gandhi will be the main campaigner. Rahul Gandhiâs intense tour of Orissaâs tribal areas yielded good attendance. His approach in targeting the youth (about 65 per cent voters qualify) with a no-nonsense approach may well elicit a positive response from the new electorate.
Rahul Gandhi was not able to do much in terms of electoral success in UP. But his effort came almost after a decade during which the stateâs political base had shifted away from the party. But the party is at least making some effort to engage in political activity in the state. The Congress may not gain much in the Lok Sabha election in UP, but one can never tell. Anti-incumbency trends may mean that the Congress has a fighting chance of success. There are multiple tasks before the Congress.
In Karnataka, it is good that S.M. Krishna is returning to active politics. In fact, in this state at least the Congress should go for elections as early as possible. My experience of over a decade of fighting elections is that if a political party is not ready to fight elections within three months, it will not be ready for three years. A single election victory before the Lok Sabha election can disrupt the NDAâs consolidation and formation of the Third Front as well. A defeat for the Congress will work the other way round.
Elections may be a year away but adjustments and alliances of the future are beginning to take shape. The recent Rajya Sabha elections reveal the complex task faced by each party in the states. West Bengal is a classic example where the Congress will have to choose between the TC, as a possible future ally, and the CPI(M), its current ally, in selecting final candidates. No party has the numbers to win on their own. Several other states â Karnataka and Bihar for instance â are in a similar status. We will see new alliances taking place in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, Assam and, even perhaps, in Kashmir where the PDP and the NC are locked in battle. The Congress and the BJP may have a straight fight in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi, but the BSP will be present in all these states and may prove to be a force to reckon with. The BSP is unlikely to align with anyone at this juncture. Election forecasts are notorious and all analysts are likely to go wrong. Current alliances may well change several times with all eyes on a winning combination and political longevity.
People threw slippers and chairs at the podium during the Jaitra Yatra of former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy in Tumkur on Sunday, injuring at least ten. Police had to use force to chase away the mob. DH Photo
JD(S) workers were in for a rude shock on Sunday morning when they were denied entry into their own party office on race course road. They were intrigued when they learnt the party patriarch H D Deve Gowda and his entire family was inside the office from where a thick smoke was emanating.
But when the security personnel emerged from inside the office and distributed bisibele bath and flowers as prasadam at 9 am, they realised that their chief is at it again: Seeking divine intervention for the partyâs success in the coming polls.
<b>Gowda along with his almost entire family performed special poojas and homas, including Ganapathi homa, poornahuti homa and other poojas, all through the night on Saturday at the JD(S) main office</b>. Gowda accompanied by wife Channamma, H D Revanna and his wife Bhavani, started poojas around 9 pm on Saturday which went on till 9 am on Sunday.
Insiders said that Gowda and Revanna were upset over former CM H D Kumaraswamy and his wife Anita for missing the pooja. When asked about the purpose of holding special poojas, the former CM only said âItâs being done for the good of all.â <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Note : All here refers to JD(S) ruled by the gowda dynasty.
AICC observer, in-charge of Karnataka Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday announced the formal induction of former DyCM M P Prakash and his followers into the party.
Chavan said, with the entry of Prakash and his followers the party has grown in strength. âNewly-inducted leaders will get their due in the party. â he stated.
<b>Asked about simmering differences among leaders in the party, he agreed that some differences are there among party workers at the local level.</b> The party leadership will strive to solve such issues, he added.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Differences will not decrease you fool but will increase. Former JD(S) and now congress man Siddaramiah will not like another contender for the CM's post. A lot infighting is expected with each faction trying to upstage the other.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->KPCC president Mallikarjun Kharge, former chief minister Dharam Singh and other senior leaders were present.
Leaders H S Mahadev Prasad, H Ekantaiah, Sharanabasappa Darshanapur, Amaregowda Bayyapura were among who joined the party along with Prakash.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
But senior leader Siddaramiah was absent. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> That say it all. He doesn't like the new entrant Prakash. Afterall they were formerly in the same party and did not get along well.
Chennai, UNI : Election Commissioner Navin Chawla on Friday said the dates for holding election to the Karnataka Assembly would be decided within ten days after a meeting of the Election Commission.
Talking to newspersons at the airport here, he said the meeting would be held soon after Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami returns from his tour.
âThe poll panel has clarified that it will take time to complete the technicalities related to redrawing of maps of the Assembly and the Parliamentary constituenciesââ, Chawla said adding âthe polls will be held after delimitation of the constituencies in Karnataka.ââ
Bangalore : The BJP is expected to release the first list of candidates for the coming elections in the first week of April.
Party state president D V Sadananda Gowda said the party will start hold meetings with district level committees from March 27 to finalise the list of candidates.
He said 21 districts have already sent their recommendations for candidature to the state unit and the candidates for 125 constituencies will be finalised by the first week of April.
According to sources, the party meeting on Friday where Arun Jaitley was present, has decided to send a team of senior party leaders to these districts and get an opinion from the party workers before finalising the names.
âThe partyâs state unit has received applications from many people expressing their wish to contest in the coming elections and asked the district committees to shortlist the aspirants. A team of senior leaders will visit the districts and verify ground realities before finalising the list. This process will conclude by the end of March and the list will be ready by the first week of Aprilâ, the source added.
The BJP has appointed former minister and MLC Dr V S Acharya as the chairperson of the partyâs manifesto committee.
MLC D S Veeraiah will be the convener and the members include:
Rajya Sabha member K B Shanappa,
State BJP Secretary S Suresh Kumar,
MLC Basavaraj Bommai,
State BJP Vice President Mumtaz Ali Khan,
retired Chief Secretary to Karnataka State Government Dr Raveendra, former MLA Yogeesh Bhat,
former MLC Pramila Nesargi,
former member-secretary to Karnataka Pollution Control Board Dr S Ganjigatti and
retired Commissioner (commercial taxes) D V Shivaram Gowda.
<b>Rahul Gandhi's Karnataka tour from tomorrow</b> Link
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mar 24, 2008
New Delhi, Mar 24 (ANI): AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi will undertake a five-day trip to Karnataka from tomorrow.
During his visit, Rahul will study the conditions of tribal people and what could be done to improve their lot. <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Security has been tightened in view of Rahul's visit.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Congress leaders are worried that rahul's visit to Kar will prove like that of UP elections. Huge Failure to garner votes. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Today was very tough day for rahul baby. He was busy trying to vow kar tribals by visiting them but the JD(S) leader Mirajuddin patel was making fun of him in front of press. Miraj said that since rahul was jobless in delhi after losing elections he has come here to see tribal dance to lift his spirits.
After he reached Mangalore there was another fiasco waiting for him with the infighting between 2 rival congress factions coming out in the open. And then press was also not allowed inside even when they had valid press passes issued to them by the police. The press staged an dharna there and then Rahul baby had to come there to pacify them.
He can watch tribal dance in 10 Janpath, why he is wasting tax money on his security? I just can't believe 40 year old man is still comfortable to be called as baba or kaka or baby.
<!--emo&<_<--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='dry.gif' /><!--endemo--> Rahul roadshow leaves Cong red-faced
29 Mar 2008, 0157 hrs IST,MANU AIYAPPA,TNN
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HUBLI: This week, the young Gandhi announced his arrival on the political stage as an impatient young man. At the end of Rahul Gandhi's five-day roadshow across the state, many senior Congressmen were left red-faced.
His roadshow was peppered with organizational goof-ups, to which he responded like a petulant prince - by humiliating senior Congress leaders.
The young AICC general secretary, armed with the right surname, cracked the whip in no uncertain terms in the course of the week. He lashed out at Karnataka Pradesh youth Congress committee president Krishna Byregowda in the presence of other office-bearers on the third day of his tour in Dharwad.
At one stage, Byregowda, who had been driving around the young leader, was replaced by another person at the wheel.
Sources said Byregowda was not the only one to be ticked off. The young Gandhi let loose his ire on other senior Congress leaders in the presence of party workers. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge was humiliated by not being allowed into Rahul's interaction with students at NTTF in Dharwad.
Kharge had to wait for about 15 minutes at the gate before former minister R V Deshpande prevailed on Rahul to ask the SPG to allow the KPCC president in.
Kharge, however, denied that he or his partymen had suffered embarrassment on account of Rahul's visit.
He admitted having to wait for a while at the entrance of NTTF in Dharwad, but said, "It happens when a person of his stature is touring the state with so much security."
Rahul was not too pleased with his interaction with select youth Congress workers in Hubli on Wednesday.
He sought their views on the progress of youth Congress organizational activities in their respective areas. But the replies of youth Congress leaders failed to satisfy him.
They had not done their homework before the meeting, and not many could speak proper English or Hindi. They complained to him about groupism within the party's state unit. It all started when senior leaders in Hubli-Dharwad district vied with each other to get Rahul to their respective constituencies to derive political mileage. In a mood to "connect with people", Rahul had other ideas.
<b>Karnataka to have three-phased assembly polls</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->http://in.news.yahoo.com/pti/20080402/r_t_pti_nl_politics/tnl-karnataka-to-have-three-phased-assem-6adc8fa.html
Wed, Apr 2Â 2008
New Delhi, Apr 2 (PTI) Karnataka will have three-phased assembly elections on May 10, 16 and 22 that will require extension of the President's rule by a short spell.
Counting of votes in the elections to the 224-member House would take place on May 25, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy said at a press conference announcing the election schedule for the state which will be first to have polls after the delimitation exercise in the country.
Extension of President's rule, which expires on May 19, will become necessary, he said in reply to a question. The assembly was dissolved on November 28 last year, eight days after President's rule was imposed following political instability.
The new assembly has to be constituted before May 28. Parliament, which is in recess, is expected to take up the extension of President's rule when it resumes the Budget session later this month.
The notification for the first phase of polls for 89 constituencies will be issued on April 16. The last date for filing nominations would be on April 23 and the last date for scrutiny of nominations would take place the next day.
Last date for withdrawal of candidatures would be on April 26. Notifications for the second phase of polls for 66 seats Would be issued on April 22.
The last date for filing nominations, scrutiny and withdrawal would take place on April 29, 30 and May two respectively.
Notifications for the third phase of polling for 69 seats would be issued on April 26 and the last date for filing candidatures, scrutiny and withdrawal would take place on May three, five and seven respectively.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
BJP is already finalising the candidate list while other parties are still trying to stop the infighting among their members.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->New Delhi, Apr 2 (PTI) Karnataka will have three-phased assembly elections on May 10, 16 and 22 that will require extension of the President's rule by a short spell.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Why not to have earlier dates?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Blow to Congress as Lingayat leader quits </b>
Pioneer.com
PT Bopanna | Bangalore
<b>In a major setback for the Congress, a senior Lingayat leader from Mysore and former Minister M Mahadevu on Wednesday resigned </b>from the Congress protesting against the ill-treatment meted out to party loyalists.
<b>Mahadevu was assaulted by senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah at a party convention a few months ago when the former stated that loyalists were being marginalised in the party at the expense of "migrants", </b>referring to the fact that Siddaramaiah who had joined the party from the JD (S) was making things difficult for loyalists.
Announcing his resignation at Mysore, Mahadevu said, "I only suggested to Siddharamaiah to work to strengthen the party instead of fighting for power. But Siddharamaiah indulged in goondagiri. I had shown the CDs of that incident to both AICC and State level leaders, without much use".
The former Minister accused the Congress of being casteist and claimed the party had sidelined the Lingayat community.
Probably, the last straw which prompted Mahadevu to quit the party which he had served for over 40 years was the fact that he was not invited to meet Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi when he visited Nanjangud last week.
Immediately after Mahadevu's announcement to quit the Congress, former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy called on him and invited him to the JD (S). However, Mahadevu was non-committal. The BJP leaders have already met him and Mahadevu is believed to have shown his inclination to join the saffron party
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