Cong-led UDF retains Vengara Assembly seat in Kerala, BJP finishes fourth

Agencies
October 15, 2017

Malappuram, Oct 15: The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), a key partner in the Congress-led UDF Opposition in Kerala, today retained the Vengara Assembly seat by defeating its nearest rival CPI-M candidate in the by-poll.

IUML candidate K N A Khader won the seat with a margin of 23,310 votes over CPI-M nominee P P Basheer, a district official said after the result was announced. BJP candidate K Jayachandran Master secured 5,728 votes and SDPI'S K C Naseer got 8,648 votes.

The UDF and LDF garnered 65,227 and 41,917 votes respectively. The constituency had recorded a 72.12 percentage voter turnout during the by-election held on October 11.

However, the UDF's victory margin was less than it received in the 2016 assembly polls, in the segment considered to be a stronghold of IUML. IUML leader P K Kunalikutty had won the seat with a huge margin of 38,057 votes beating CPI-M's Basheer in 2016. The BJP had polled 7,211 votes in the segment.

Last year, UDF got 72,181 and LDF 34,121 votes. Reacting to the poll verdict, Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, Ramesh Chennithala said even after LDF "misused" official machinery, the UDF candidate won the by-election. He also said even after LDF played the solar scam card they could not manage. CPI(M) State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the increased vote share of LDF clearly showed that the programme's of the government led by Pinarayi Vijayan has the support of people.

The victory of UDF is only "technical" and they were not able to maintain the lead they secured last year, he said. The by-election was necessitated after sitting MLA P K Kunhalikutty quit following his election to parliament from Malappuram Lok Sabha segment that fell vacant after the death of IUML leader and former union minister E Ahmed in February last.

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Dodanna
 - 
Sunday, 15 Oct 2017

Send ONE carton BURNOL to recent KERALA visited bjp leaders

Malayalees Enjoy and live with peace full life

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News Network
June 16,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 16: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief DK Shivakumar's daughter Aishwarya and Cafe Coffe Day founder late VG Siddhartha's son, Amarthya Hegde got engaged at SM Krishna Residence, Sadashivanagar in Bengaluru on Monday.
Only family members were present in the event. Amarthya Hegde is also the grandson of former Union Minister SM Krishna.
Last year in July, the body of Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) founder Siddhartha was unearthed on the banks of Netravati river.

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 27,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 27: Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, on completion of one year of his government, today said coronavirus hampered his development plans for the state.

He said the state will not see a lockdown again "at any cost".

"Due to coronavirus we couldn't meet people's expectations but now we'll not have lockdown in Karnataka at any cost. In future we're going to fulfill whatever I announced in Budget. If necessary we'll take loans and complete all development work," said Yediyurappa.

"Covid has hampered development plans of Karnataka, lot more needs to be done, i'm committed to providing an able, stable government," he said.

Arrangements were made for virtual celebrations to mark the one-year anniversary of Yediyurappa government at Banquet Hall in Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. Social distancing was maintained at the event.

A record 5,199 new COVID-19 cases and 82 deaths were reported from Karnataka on Sunday, the state's health department said.

With this, the total number of coronavirus cases in the state stands at 96,141, including 58,417 active cases and 35,838 recoveries.

So far, 1,878 deaths have been reported from Karnataka. Karnataka is the only state to have over 50,000 active cases with overall tally below 1 lakh.

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News Network
January 20,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 20: The suspense over chief minister BS Yediyurappa expanding his council of ministers is set to continue until after he returns from his trip to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

Yediyurappa, who heads a 10-member delegation to the Swiss ski resort, left on Sunday. Prior to his departure, he told reporters cabinet expansion will happen only after his return on January 24. “I discussed the issue with [BJP] national president Amit Shah for 30 minutes or so. He has given a positive response and I will expand the cabinet within two days after my return,” Yediyurappa said.

But sources said Shah, during his visit to Hubballi on Saturday, had indicated the exercise is likely to be delayed further as the central leadership will be busy with the assembly elections in Delhi. “Indications are there is no possibility of expanding the cabinet until February 11 when the electoral process for the Delhi elections ends,” said a source.

The development has obviously left ministerial aspirants, especially defectors from Congress and JD(S) who were re-elected on BJP tickets last month, restive. Moreover, while Yediyurappa has promised ministerial berths to all MLAs who switched to the BJP from Congress and JD(S), sources say Shah is only in favour of inducting six defectors (11 of whom won MLA seats on saffron party tickets in the byelections) into the cabinet.

“Shah’s advice to Yediyurappa is to strike a balance between defectors and loyalists. His concern is loyalists should not be left disappointed, while justice should be served to the defectors as well,” said a BJP functionary.

Meanwhile, KS Eshwarappa, senior party functionary and minister for rural development, said the BJP would never let down the defectors. “The party is indebted to them and I am sure they will all be rewarded,” he said.

BC Patil, one of the defectors, said some of them had met Shah in one-on-one meetings in Hubballi. “It was more a courtesy call and the issue of cabinet expansion didn’t come up during the meeting,” he said.

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