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JD(S) to contest RS polls despite CM refusing to back its nominee

DHNS
March 6, 2018

Bengaluru, Mar 6: Hectic political parleys for the Rajya Sabha polls is likely in store this week as the filing of the nomination for four seats to Upper House of Parliament from Karnataka opened on Monday.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued the notification for the elections scheduled on March 23. As of now, it is unlikely to be a unanimous election. The JD(S) declared that it will contest the polls even though it is short of numbers to win even a single seat. The ruling Congress, on the other end, stuck to its stand of fielding the third candidate.

Members of the Legislative Assembly form the electoral college for the Rajya Sabha polls. A candidate requires about 44 votes to win the polls.

In the Assembly, the Congress has 122 MLAs on its side. Though the JD(S) has 37 MLAs, seven of its rebel MLAs have pledged support to the Congress. The Congress is hoping to win the third seat with the help of the seven JD(S) rebels and some independent legislators. The BJP with 46 MLAs can win one seat.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will leave for New Delhi on Tuesday to hold a discussion with the party high command to finalise Congress candidates. Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, Siddaramaiah ruled out holding talks with the JD(S) for the third seat.

Siddaramaiah's stand has not gone down well with the JD(S). The party's state chief

H D Kumaraswamy hit back at the Congress, stating that his party was not dependent on the ruling party's support to contest the elections.

Speaking to DH, Kumaraswamy said, "Very good -- let them (Congress) go ahead. We have no hopes regarding the Congress. We are not even interested. Without fail, we will field a candidate. Our party president (H D Deve Gowda) has already announced that we will fight the elections."

The party, which has decided to field businessman B M Farooq, is however still pinning hopes on the Congress high command to come to its aid. It has asked its party Rajya Sabha MP Kupendra Reddy to hold negotiations with the Congress central leaders. "We have asked Kupendra Reddy to hold talks at the Delhi level. If they are interested, then it is okay. If they are not, we will leave it," said Kumaraswamy.

The list of aspirants in the Congress is long. Former Lok Sabha Speakers Shivraj Patil and Meira Kumar are said to be aspiring to contest. Senior leaders including Shamanur Shivashankarappa, S R Patil, Veeranna Mattikatti, Rani Satish and Allamm Prabhu Patil are also in the race.

The BJP Parliamentary Board, which will meet in New Delhi will decide on the party candidate. Two names are doing the rounds, two-term Independent MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar and former Lok Sabha member Vijay Sankeshwar.

Parties have one week to finalise their candidates with March 12 being the last date for filing nominations.

Comments

zahoor ahmed
 - 
Tuesday, 6 Mar 2018

No ticket to shivaraj or Meera kumar, both are not belong to Karnataka and their contribution to state is Zero.

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News Network
April 28,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 28:  Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa today launched a Helpline service for Kannadigas residing outside Karnataka.

On April 24, Dakshina Kannada district in-charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary in a letter to the Chief Minister requested a helpline for stranded Kannadigas in Mumbai, other States and other countries.

The helpline will help resolve the problem of stranded Kannadigas across the country. After a request is made, local authorities of the caller will be contacted to provide the required help. The helpline will be operated from Bengaluru and staffed with 50 employees in three shifts.

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News Network
March 31,2020

Udupi, Mar 31: Six people have committed suicide since liquor shops were shut down during a lockdown here to break the chain of the novel coronavirus.

Deputy Commissioner G Jagadeesha said in a statement here, "After continuous suicides out of depression over not being able to buy alcohol, the district administration decided to hold counselling sessions to such people.

"The district administration has appointed a team of Doctors for counselling. Anyone who needs counselling can call 1077 toll-free number," he added.

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News Network
June 18,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 18: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominated Prathap Simha Nayak, M.T.B. Nagaraj, R. Shankar and Sunil Valyapure to contest in the June 29 biennial elections for 4 of the 7 Karnataka legislative Council seats, an official said.

"Our high command selected 3 of the 4 candidates the state core committee recommended on Tuesday, excluding H.R. Vishwanath, a former Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) rebel, who lost in the December 5 Assembly by-elections from Hunsur in Mysuru district on a BJP ticket," a party official said.

Nagaraj, a former Congress rebel, who also lost in the Assembly by-election from Hoskote in Bengaluru Rural district on a BJP ticket, was the state housing minister in the 14-month-old JD-S-Congress coalition government, which fell on July 23, 2019 after 17 of their rebels resigned then.

Shankar, who was an Independent and a minister in the former coalition government, was not given the BJP ticket to contest in the December Assembly bypolls though he too resigned from the Ranebennur assembly seat in Haveri district, about 340km northwest of Bengaluru, along with former Congress and JD-S rebels.

Valyapure is the party's grass-root leader from Chincholi in Gulbarga district in the state's northern region, about 586km from Bengaluru.

Valyapure extensively campaigned in the May 2019 general elections and ensured the victory of BJP candidate Umesh Yadav from the reserved Gulbarga Lok Sabha seat, defeating Congress senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge.

Nayak is also the party's grassroot cadre who rose from the ranks to become its Dakshina Kannada district president in the state's coastal region.

As the ruling party has 116 legislators in the 225-member Assembly, all its 4 candidates will need 28 votes each to win the contest.

Of the 7 outgoing Council members, 5 are from the Congress and one each from the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and an Independent.

With 68 lawmakers, the Congress will be able to retain 2 seats and the JD-S one as it has only 34 legislators in the lower house.

The Congress has nominated its outgoing Rajya Sabha member B.K. Hariprasad and outgoing Council member Naseer Ahmed to contest for 2 Council seats.

Of the 75-member Council, the opposition Congress has 37, BJP 19, JD-S 16, two Independents and one Chairman.

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