Vijayawada, Apr 5 : Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda will campaign for the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh for the upcoming general election to be held on April 11.

TDP sources here on Friday said, Mr Gowda would campaign in Krishna and West Godavari districts on April 8 for the party.

He would reach Vijayawada from Bengaluru on that day and proceed to Tanuku in West Godavari district by an helicopter, where he would address an election meeting.

Later he would address election meetings in Ungaturu, Thiruvuru and Pamarru in Krishn district.

He would leave for Bengaluru on the same day itself by flight, the sources added.

Hassan, Karnataka, Apr 5 : Continuing its strict vigil on movement of VVIPs, the Election Commission officials today searched Car and convoy of former External Affairs Minister and BJP leader S M Krishna at Vijayanagara Check Post in the District today.
This comes close on the heels of subjecting Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s car and convoy while he was bound to Karwar and Mangaluru for election campaign yesterday.
Reacting sharply to the Checks by the Election Commission officials, Kumaraswamy had alleged that he was subjected to such check for more than 13 to 14 times during his travel from Bengaluru. “Not only they are checking my car and convoy, even they have checked houses and vehicles of my family members. It is nothing but harassment to the common people by BJP who is misusing the Election Commission machinery. But during search they did not get anything and had to return empty hand,” he told newsmen at Karwar on Thursday.
Former Chief Minister Krishna, who was with Congress for more than 40 years and joined BJP by remaining silent in 2013 Assembly election, has decided to campaign actively for BJP candidates in Hassan, Tumakuru and Mandya. He want to be more actively campaign in his home District Mandya to prove his influence and ensure victory of Independent Candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh, for whom the party has extended full support without fielding candidate. Nikhil, son of Kumaraswamy is the candidate supported by coalition partners in the State, Congress and the JDS.
The Election Commission officials had even searched Resorts and offices of JDS candidate Nikhil in Mandya District recently and camped in the District to keep close watch to prevent any violations of the election code of conducts.

Bengaluru Apr 5 : The BJP strongman in Karnataka B S Yeddyurappa today said he will work as an ordinary worker, and he will not rest until he ensures victory in at least 22 seats for the party out of the totaL lnumber 28 in the state in the coming elections.
Unperturbed with the denial of party ticket to former BJP stalwarts including L K Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, and Sumitra Mahajan, to contest the coming general elections, state BJP prsident, B S Yeddyurappa, who is currently steering the party in the Parliamentary elections, said he is ready to work as a foot-soldier of the party.
He was speaking at an interaction meeting with the newsmen here on Friday, Mr Yeddyurappa who recently turned 76 recently, said that “I am assigned to ensure a victory of party candidates in a minimum 22 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka and working on it”.
Referring to not to field senior party leaders, Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi and others, he said that it was the decision of the Central party leaders, and it is unfair to say that they were sidelined or ignored.
“The contribution of the senior leaders for the present day BJP, is immense, and they continue to guide the party in future also ” he said.
Replying to a question, the BJP leader, a three-time chief minister of the state, and also opposition leader in the current assembly in the state, said that “As for as I am concerned I am ready to serve the party as an ordinary worker”.
To a question about who would be his successor as he had crossed 75 years of age, he said, “There is no dearth of talent and leadership in the party to take it forward. ”Did you know who would succeed A B Vajpayee until Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister? In the same way another leader will emerge in Karnataka when I have to pass the batton” he added.

Bengaluru, Apr 5 : Charging that the JD(S)-Congress coalition government, working for cross purposes, has failed to deliver, Opposition Leader in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly B S Yeddyurappa, who is also the BJP State President said that “the State will have a new government after the Lok Sabha elections”.
Speaking at an interaction meeting, with the media persons, jointly organised by the Press Club Bengaluru and Reporters Guild here on Friday, he said that “thanks to the corrupt coalition government in the State the people have decided to vote-out the JD(S)-Congress combined candidates, fighting the Lok Sabha elections”.
Maintaining that there will be a change of government in Karnataka, in the post poll scenario, the former Chief Minister said that “already discontent is brewing within the Congress and JDS and may come to the fore after the General elections”.
Accusing that the JD(S) which had promised to waive off the entire farm loan has miserably failed in delivering goods, he said that “the JDS-Congress government
in the State had been able to wipe off only about Rs 4500 crore of farm loan as against the promised Rs 48000 crore”.
The agriculturists are in peril, as the price of farm output has crashed and the cost of agricultural inputs is skyrocketing and the state government has no plans or time to address their grievances, the BJP leader said.
Reiterating that the BJP will bag not less than 22 seats among the total number 28 seats in the coming general elections, he said that “the achievement and performance of the BJP government at the Center in the last five years are immense and noteworthy. In the last five years, thanks to the tough decisions, the inflation rate had come down, the GDP growth is on upward trend and the flow of foreign investment is increasing”.
Replying to a question, he said that the party high command had cleared almost all the names, the state BJP had suggested for the coming general elections. “The party’s ranks and files are working in tandem for the success of the party candidates, and whatever discontent surfaced in some places, had been doused off. In Mandya, the central BJP leaders had suggested not to field any candidate and extend unconditional support to Sumalatha Ambareesh, who is contesting as Independent candidate.

The founder of the BJP and its second president, LK Advani, relegated by the all-powerful duo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to the party’s Margdarshak Mandal (old age home), seems to have revolted just days ahead of voting for the national election.

Worse for the BJP, another founder and third party president Murli Manohar Joshi, denied a ticket to contest, is in active negotiations with senior leaders of the Congress. Authoritative sources told me that Joshi has been offered a chance to take on Modi from Varanasi as a joint candidate of the opposition.

Joshi is reluctant to contest from Varanasi, the constituency he vacated for Modi in 2014, but is still in talks with his Congress interlocutors on contesting from another seat. Joshi, it is learnt, has also decided to go public by authoring a scathing critique of the Modi-Shah BJP. Joshi wants to refer to the crony capitalism charge which is often flung at the Modi government, and also the Rajan list of fraud bank defaulters.

LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi are both upset with the way they have been treated by the BJP recently

Advani, 91, wrote a blog today which seemingly took pot-shots at Modi’s BJP. Advani wrote “in our conception of Indian nationalism we have never regarded those who disagree with us politically as anti- national”.

This is a loaded statement as the Modi and Shah campaign for the elections is built on a national security plank with all the senior leaders of the BJP questioning the opposition’s, especially the Congress’s, patriotic credentials. Advani has seemingly blown Modi’s “Tukde tukde gang” pitch out of the water.

Authoritative sources say Advani met two of the senior most Congress leaders recently and shared his anguish.

Both Advani and Joshi feel extremely humiliated by the Modi and Shah duo. Joshi was told by Ram Lal, a general secretary of the BJP, that he would not be fielded from Kanpur again. Ram Lal told him that Shah would prefer that he say publicly that he does not want to contest.

An angry Joshi reportedly told him, “You are just a messenger, why can’t Modi and Shah face me?” He went public the next day by writing a two-line letter to the voters of Kanpur, saying the BJP did not want him to contest.

Joshi subsequently had meetings with Congress leaders, and various other leaders such as Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also reached out to him. The plan to make him a joint opposition candidate was a result of these discussions.

Mamata Banerjee, the Bengal Chief Minister, immediately welcomed Advani’s blog today. The RSS had warned Shah that Joshi would not take the ticket denial well and would try and queer the pitch for them. Yet Shah went ahead and humiliated him.

Similarly, Advani did not want to contest another election but wanted it to be seen as his decision. Shah denied him even this simple courtesy. Shah is headed back to Delhi to meet Modi and senior RSS leaders to stave off this elders’ revolt.

While a rebellion by the two veterans will not impact the BJP’s electoral prospects much, it will still cause huge embarrassment to the now-divided Hindu family. The opposition is delighted that Modi and Shah can be portrayed as “disrespectful” to the founders of the BJP.

But with Advani going public and Joshi on the simmer, the RSS will be unable to clamp the lid on what is already out of the box. Both Advani and Joshi are the longest serving yatris of the BJP and this could be their last stand in the party they founded.

(Swati Chaturvedi is an author and a journalist who has worked with The Indian Express, The Statesman and The Hindustan Times.)

Courtesy : NDTV