Karnataka Election LIVE Updates: PM Should Apologise, Not That Rogue, Says DK Shivakumar as 'Vish Kanya Sonia Gandhi' Row Intensifies

BJP leader and Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday took aim at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge over his “poisonous snake” jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the veteran leader’s remarks reflect his party’s “cultural and mindset”.

Speaking to reporters, the railway minister said the Congress has never refrained from launching personal attacks on Modi, noting that its former president Sonia Gandhi had once called him “maut ka saudagar”.

Vaishnaw asserted that people have a lot of trust in Modi who has been a leader like no others when it comes to having “moral authority”. People know he is taking the country in the right direction, he said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will hold rallies and take part in various programmes in north Karnataka region on Friday.

Amit Shah, who has already held a series of meetings in the north Karnataka region, has given clear directions to defeat Shettar. The BJP is worried over retaining Lingayat vote bank as Shettar and Savadi are claiming humiliation by the BJP. North Karnataka is considered as the Lingayat heartland.

Rahul Gandhi will address a public meeting at Jevargi in Kalaburgi district. He will attend an interaction programme called ‘Manila Samvad’ in Kushtagi of Koppal district. He is holding a mega roadshow in Ballary.

Yathindra Siddaramaiah, son of Karnataka opposition leader Siddaramaiah, on Friday said the BJP is trying to twist the road rage incident and project it as a clash between the saffron party and Congress.

Addressing reporters, Yathindra, who is also the sitting MLA from the Varuna constituency, said: “I have spoken to the SP and he ostated that the incident has no political connection,.

“The BJP is basically a party of rioting. Without any basis, the incident has been given a political colour. The party is expert in creating troubles. The Congress workers should not get provoked in spite of attempts by the BJP.” Yathindra further said that the BJP is strategising for political gains.

Kannada superstar Shivarajkumar said on Friday that he will campaign for the Congress party from Saturday.

His wife, Geetha Shivarajkumar is joining the Congress on Friday. Shivarajkumar while supporting his wife’s move stated that he is with his wife and will do campaigning for the Congress candidates.

The couple will campaign for Madhu Bangarappa, who is contesting from the Soraba seat on a Congress ticket. Madhu Bangarappa and Geetha Shivarajkumar are children of former Karnataka CM S. Bangarappa.

“A former union minister and sitting MLA called her (Sonia Gandhi) a poisonous maiden. Mr Yatnal I don’t know what will be done to your tongue, today you have called a woman who sacrificed the PM position, a woman whose husband sacrificed his life for unity, integrity and peace called her a poisonous maiden. Congress will not tolerate this in any way. I don’t want that rogues apology, I want the apology of the PM of the country and the apology of the Chief Minister of the state. This is not an insult to Sonai Gandhi, this is an insult to the womanhood who sacrificed the prime minister’s chair, who lost her husband for the sake of the country’s integrity. Today itself, Nadda ji if you have guts and respect for women, you have to expel him from the party, then only it shows that you respect a woman,” said KPCC chief, DK Shivakumar.

The Congress on Friday hit at the BJP demanding expulsion of its leader Basangouda Patil Yatnal for calling Sonia Gandhi a “vishkanya”.

Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka and its leaders have lost their mental as well as political balance.

“Facing a complete rout in the assembly elections, the BJP leadership is frustrated to the core and is hurling filth and muck, which is the product of their ugly character and dirty mindset of denigrating and insulting the Congress leadership. They have lost all sense of propriety, political balance and even a remote iota of decency and decorum,” he said in a statement.

Hinting at a post-poll alliance between BJP and JD(S) in Karnataka, the saffron party’s MLA from Hassan, Preetham Gowda said voting for JD(S) is like voting for BJP.

“Voting for the JD(S) is nothing but voting for the BJP,” said Gowda during an election campaign rally in Hassan on April 26.

“I’m telling you this so that you understand, if you vote for JDS it’s like voting for BJP. Deve Gowda and PM Modi have already finished talking about this. JDS will get 20-25 seats. If you’ve to reach Bangalore you don’t go via Mysore rather go through Hassan… If you vote for JD(S) also you have to come to me only,” he said.

During a speech in Karnataka’s Koppal, BJP MLA Basanagouda Yatnal makes a personal remark about ex-Congress president Sonia Gandhi and called her a ‘Vish Kanya’ (venomous girl) and an agent of China and Pakistan.

“The entire world has accepted PM Modi. America welcomes PM with a red carpet and he’s attained the status of a global leader. The Congress compare him to a cobra and says he’s poisonous. Your party and on whose orders you dance is Sonia Gandhi a Vish Kanye? She is an agent for China and Pakistan,” he said.

The comment came a day after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday landed himself in trouble as he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “poisonous snake”.

Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje has filed a complaint with the EC against Congress Chief Mallikargun Kharge’s poisonous snake’ remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was filed last evening.

Mahesh Tenginkai, the BJP candidate from Karnataka’s Hubli-Dharwad Central seat, may have pitched his high-stakes battle against Congress rival Jagadish Shettar as a ‘guru-shishya’ contest, but the former chief minister rejects the billing, saying Tenginkai’s “guru is in Delhi”.

Shettar, a longtime BJP leader who joined the Congress recently, has blamed the BJP’s national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh for rejecting his plea for a ticket and fielding Tenginkai for the same seat. READ MORE

In an embarrassment for BJP, villagers gheraoed MLA Basavaraj Dadesugur for not responding to their requests related to drinking water and other problems.

The incident took place at Obalabandi village where BJP MLA was canvassing. Villagers gheraoed MLA’s car and questioned him for allegedly turning a deaf ear to their drinking water problems.

The MLA was forced to head out of the village due to the outrage.

The Congress on Thursday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remark that the grand old party cannot give true guarantees, saying the people of Karnataka will guarantee the end of the “BJP’s 40 per cent Commission Sarkara” on May 10 and all the promises of the Congress will be implemented. READ MORE

A week after former chief minister Jagadish Shettar quit the BJP crying “betrayal” of the Lingayat community by his party and filed the nomination on a Congress ticket from Hubli-Dharwad Central Assembly seat, the saffron party has decided to pay him back in the same coin.

The BJP high command has fielded their most powerful Lingayat face BS Yediyurappa to counter his allegations and ensure Shettar’s defeat. READ MORE

While Kichcha Sudeep is being hailed as a star campaigner for the party, Darshan another popular Kannada actor will also be a star campaigner for the BJP ahead of the polls.

Known for his action films in the Kannada film industry, the actor had previously campaigned for Sumalatha Ambareesh along with actor Yashin 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The incident took place on Thursday in Shivamogga during an invocation at a campaign meeting of Tamils, where an office bearer of the BJP announced that the Tamil Nadu state song would be played. As the sound system operator began playing the song, it left KS Eshwarappa visibly disturbed. Therefore, the Senior leader insisted that the Kannada state song should be played instead.

BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit chief and co-in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka K. Annamalai was also on the dais.

His outfit may be taking baby steps in Karnataka’s political arena dominated by BJP, Congress and the JD(S) but mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy is confident his newly floated party will grow big enough by 2028 to catapult him to the ruling saddle, as he tests the waters with the electoral debut of his Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha in the ensuing elections to the state Legislative Assembly. A former BJP minister, Janardhana Reddy, who had severed ties with the saffron party and floated KRPP in December last year, said he has not launched it with the objective of becoming CM right away in 2023.

“I am patient. We will build a solid foundation in 2023 and by 2028 we will come to power on our own strength, with a thumping majority,” he said.

When asked if he aimed for Chief Minister’s post, Reddy said “aiming for CM’s post–that’s not the thing (now). But, when I floated the party…you can understand. But, yes my target is 2028 elections, and Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha will form the government in Karnataka on its own then,” Reddy told PTI.

A BJP worker, identified as Nagesh, from Karnataka’s Varuna has alleged that he was beaten up by former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s nephews when he was canvassing for BJP leader V Somanna at Siddaramanahundi.

Nagesh who was injured during the clash has been admitted to a nearby hospital and is undergoing treatment. A complaint has been filed against Siddaramaiah’s nephews.

Lingayat and Vokkaliga are the two communities that have dominated Karnataka politics for decades. Though included in the other backward class category in the current reservation system, the two communities have always had a distinctive edge in the state’s power corridors as their voting pattern is not as largely scattered like other castes in this category.

The state has witnessed 23 chief ministers so far and, of these, 16 have been from Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities. The figure itself talks about the dominance of the two communities in state politics, particularly the Lingayat community, which has given nine CMs to the state after its reorganisation in 1956. READ MORE

Announcing the fifth poll “guarantee” of the Congress ahead of the May 10 Assembly polls in Karnataka, party leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday promised free travel for women in public transport buses, if it’s voted to power in the State. He hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saying that Congress would not fulfil its guarantees. READ MORE

The JD(S) on Thursday released its “Janata Pranalike” (People’s Manifesto) for the May 10 Assembly polls in Karnataka promising to restore four per cent reservation for Muslims, to “throw out” Amul and to save Nandini brand calling it Kannadiga’s identity, among various assurances. READ MORE