Karnataka Election 2023 LIVE: Unfazed by Raids & Recovery in Lakhs, KGF Babu Gears Up, Quits Cong to Fight as Independent; 'Atiq Angle' in Polls

Lingayat leaders of the BJP have raised the pitch for unleashing the “Lingayat CM” campaign in poll-bound Karnataka to counter the Congress’ narrative to brand the ruling party as “anti-Lingayat”. The politically influential Lingayat community forms about 17 per cent of the State’s population, mostly in northern parts of the State which the BJP counts as its strong vote-base. READ MORE

BY Vijayendra, the younger son of BS Yediyurappa, filed his nomination from Shikaripura on Wednesday, marking a generational shift in Karnataka politics, particularly in his hometown Shimoga. The constituency was held by Yediyurappa for 40 years, except 1999-2004. During 2014-18, his elder son BY Raghavendra was Shikaripura MLA when BSY went to New Delhi as an MP from Shimoga. BSY has contested from Shikaripura in every election, nine times since 1983. READ MORE

A few weeks before the Karnataka Assembly elections, Income Tax officials raided many places in Bengaluru. On Wednesday morning, the residence of expelled Congress leader KGF Babu was raided by the IT Department. The officials inspected his home in Bengaluru at around 5:30 am. READ MORE

The office of the Sarvodaya Karnataka Party (SKP) may be the least prominent among other political party outposts here, but it definitely looked the busiest.

A couple of days before nominations were to close for candidates for the May 10 Assembly elections, Mandya, the heart of Karnataka’s agrarian belt looked like it was yet to catch the election fever. And yet the SKP office was buzzing with activities like laying out freshly printed posters and loading them onto trucks.

The face that stands out prominently, among the posters that are being loaded onto vans, was that of SKP’s lead candidate Darshan Puttanaiah. Son of the late prominent farmers leader K S Puttanaiah, Darshan is contesting from Melkote constituency in Mandya district. Congress is not fielding a candidate here in order to support Darshan and open the constituency up for a direct contest between the SKP and the JD(S) which is hoping to retain its seat.

Denied a ticket by the Congress party from the Chickpet constituency, KGF Babu quit the grand old party and decided to file his nomination as an independent candidate from the seat.

Babu was earlier suspended from Congress for his alleged statement against the party where he said that Congress will not win more than 40 seats.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi would campaign in about 20 places in poll-bound Karnataka, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Thursday. He said the Prime Minister’s campaign programme is being finalised. READ MORE

AIADMK general secretary and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday announced that the party will contest the Karnataka Assembly polls.

However, the party had earlier announced that it would not be contesting the state Assembly polls and would support BJP candidates. READ MORE

“Laxman Savadi is being sidelined in BJP, they are sidelining leaders of major communities like Lingayats,” said Congress leader and former CM Siddaramaiah while talking to the media on Thursday.

When asked why Sachin Sachin pilot was not part of Congress’ star campaigner list for Karnataka Assembly Polls, the former CM said, “I don’t know about it, please ask the central leadership.”

Denied a ticket by the Congress party from the Chickpet constituency, KGF Babu has decided to file his nomination as an independent candidate from the seat.

Shafi Bellare, prime accused in the murder of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader Praveen Nettaru, has filed his nomination from the Puttur constituency for upcoming Assembly elections in Karnataka. Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), which is considered as the political arm of the outlawed Popular Front of India (PFI), has fielded Shafi Bellare from the Dakshina Kannada district’s seat. READ MORE

BJP has raised objection to Congress including its Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi’s name in the star campaigner list for the Karnataka Assembly election. BJP alleged that Pratapgarhi was close aide of late gangster Atiq Ahmed

“Imran Pratapgarhi called Atiq his guru, Congress is appointing such individuals with a criminal background to appease minorities,” said Union Minister and BJP leader Shobha Karandlage.

Karandlage further alleged that Pratapgarhi used to write Shayari to pit Hindus and Muslims against each other.

Days ahead of Karnataka Assembly polls, BJP MLC AH Vishwanath announced that he will join Congress today. After former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, Vishwanath is another prominent leader to ship from BJP to Congress ahead of polls.

“Today I am joining Congress. There are political reasons, due to which I am leaving BJP and joining Congress,”  Vishwanath told the media.

Election Commission is in the process of hiding party symbols ahead of the May 10 Karnataka Assembly Polls. However, officials may find it difficult to hide the symbol of the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP).

As per election rules, any material or images representing the symbols of contesting parties in constituencies should be hidden after the model code of conduct comes into force and until the end of the election to avoid influencing the voters.

Election Commission is now faced with the challenge of hiding the AAP’s symbol– broom– from the public eye everywhere.

Earlier, during the Uttar Pradesh elections, all elephant effigies were covered with clothes because the elephant is the symbol of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

Mysore Paints and Varnish Company, the 65 years old enterprise in India, that supplies supplier of indelible ink for election purpose in the country, have delivered one lakh 30 thousand vials of ink to the office of the Chief Electoral Office in Bengaluru for use during the May 10 Assembly election in Karnataka.

Each vial of ink contains 10 ML quantity of ink and can be used on 700 to 800 voters, as per a report by All India Radio.

“The BJP has given the ticket to senior party worker Channabasappa and we are happy about it because he had worked for my father’s victory seven times. He worked as my father’s son. He was always committed to Hindus’ safety. So BJP has identified him and his work and we are happy about it,” said KS Eshwarappa son Kantesh.

The Congress on Wednesday slammed External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for accusing former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of politicising the issue of Indians stranded in Sudan, saying it was an “appalling response” to a “genuine appeal” for assistance.  READ MORE

Congress party is infamous for its lies… What did Siddaramaiah do? First, he should see who did the work of setting fire in Karnataka, the people of the whole world are following PM Modi, and people know what they have to do, said BJP candidate Mahesh Tenginkai.

BJP leader Mahesh Tenginkai, who was given a ticket from the Hubbali-Central constituency after shunning former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar is on his way to file his nomination today. Before filing the poll nomination, the BJP leader visited Siddharoodha Mutt to seek blessings.

Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who joined the Congress this week after quitting the BJP, figures in the Congress’ list of star campaigners for the Karnataka Assembly polls that also includes party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Shashi Tharoor. The Congress on Wednesday released a list of 40 leaders who would be the party’s star campaigners for the May 10 assembly elections. READ MORE

In an exclusive interview to News18, Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar said that PM Narendra Modi will not be able to make a difference in a progressive state like Karnataka, citing how he “could neither save the party nor their leaders”.

Shivakumar is confident that he won’t have to fight against Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) R Ashoka in Kanakapura. “Every home in the constituency has a Shivakumar and they will fight the election for me,” he said. READ MORE