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‘Civility a rare virtue’: Shashi Tharoor has surprise visitor in hospital

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Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on a campaign trip to Kerala, dropped in to see the MP who was injured during a religious ceremony on Monday.
shashi tharoor,visitor,hospital

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday visited Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram candidate Shashi Tharoor, who is recovering at a hospital after a freak accident.

Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram candidate Shashi Tharoor, who is recovering at a hospital after a freak accident, had an unexpected visitor early Tuesday.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on a campaign trip to Kerala, dropped in to see the MP who was injured during a religious ceremony on Monday.

“Touched by the gesture of @nsitharaman, who dropped by today morning to visit me in the hospital, amid her hectic electioneering in Kerala. Civility is a rare virtue in Indian politics – great to see her practice it by example!”, Tharoor tweeted from his hospital bed.

The Congress leader also received a call from Left Democratic Front (LDF) leader C Divakaran who had a piece of advice for him.

“Very gracious of my LDF rival C.Divakaran to call this morning to express concern about my well-being. Said he had spoken to the Hospital Superintendent to assure himself I would be ok. “Don’t be demoralised”, he added. I’m not: I’m more determined than ever to see this through!,” Tharoor tweeted

As part of Thulabharam — a religious ritual where offering equivalent to one’s weight is made to the deity — the Congress candidate was sitting on weighing scales, to be weighed against sugar, when it collapsed injuring his head.

The Thiruvananthapuram MP was rushed to a general hospital where he received six stitches on his head. Tharoor is seeking a third term from Thiruvananthapuram, which goes to polls on April 23. He is locked in a keen contest with BJP candidate and former Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajasekharan.

Agencies

Asaduddin Owaisi mocks Sanghi leaders as ‘only experts in human anatomy’

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All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi urged the leader to just ask a person, if he wants to identify one.

Asaduddin Owaisi ​

HYDERABAD: Taking a sarcastic dig at reports of a BJP leader who said that a Muslim could be identified by removing their clothes, All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi urged the leader to just ask a person, if he wants to identify one.

“It seems Sanghi leaders are only experts in human anatomy. After all, their experience is rich: Gujarat 2002, Bilqis Bano, Ehsan Jafri, Akhlaq, Pehli Khan, Junaid, Shaukat Ali & innumerable others,” the AIMIM chief tweeted on Monday. “Also, if you want to identify a Muslim, ask. No need to lift clothing. What is this Sanghi obsession with Muslim men & what’s under their clothing?”

Earlier in the Kerala BJP State President PS Sreedharan Pillai reportedly, while referring to questions being raised about the number of terrorists killed in Balakot strike, said, “If it is Islam, there are some signs, no? If you remove their clothes you will be able to know. We have to do all that and return is what they are saying.” Kerala BJP state president PS Sreedharan Pillai’.

Meanwhile, Owaisi during a rally at Bihar, while campaigning for Kishanganj MP candidate Akhtar-ul Imam, slammed BJP for the lynching of Akhlaq. He said, “Akhalq’s son works for the Indian Air Force, and protects our country. He is suffering a lot since he had to leave his home and has to stay in Delhi. If we have to stop BJP, then you have to support Akhtar-ul Imam.”

Lok sabha Election : Modi government’s economic report card

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On April 6, speaking at the University of Delhi, India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley waxed eloquent about how the world’s most-populous democracy would become the third-largest economy on the planet by 2030 after the United States and China.

By then, the size of India’s economy would have more than trebled to $10 trillion from around $2.9 trillion at present, he said.

What was noteworthy was that Jaitley’s speech hardly dwelt on the performance of the government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the last five years, as India votes in the 17th general  elections between April 11 and May 19.

India elections: All you need to know

INFOGRAPHIC

India elections: All you need to know

Votes will be counted on May 23 to determine whether the right-wing Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Modi would be elected for a second term of five years.

The day after Jaitley’s speech, the BJP released its election manifesto that promised huge investments in India’s creaking infrastructure (roads, railways, bridges and airports), the expansion of an income-support scheme for farmers, a welfare board for traders, simplifying the goods and services (GST) regime, lowering income taxes, setting up medical institutes and technology centres for small enterprises.

A few days earlier, the largest party in the opposition, the Indian National Congress had released its manifesto, the highlight of which was a grandiose scheme for income support for the poorest one-fifth of families in the country.

The BJP, which had promised between 10 million and 20 million jobs annually before the 2014 elections, has played down job creation.

Job crisis

Even spokespersons of the BJP acknowledge that much remains to be done to provide employment opportunities.

Demonetisation destroyed the country’s job-creating potential and badly hurt those employed in the informal sector

ABHIJIT SEN, ECONOMIST

“We have to work harder to create job opportunities for the youth. We have so far paid attention to investments by government bodies and we now need to boost private investments and create consumer demand by increasing the liquidity in the system,” Gopal Agarwal, the party’s national spokesman on economic issues, said.

Of late, there has been considerable controversy about data on jobs in India while the government has been accused of suppressing job data. Leaked data indicate that the unemployment rate in the country at 6.1 percent is the highest in 45 years and that an estimated 20 million young men had dropped out of the job market over the last five years. 

This is a particularly important issue in a country where half its population is below the age of 26.

Agarwal nevertheless believes that the Modi government should be credited with major achievements on the economic front.

“In 2014, when we came to power, the Indian economy was in bad shape – inflation was at double digits, the fiscal deficit was at 4.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), indicators of the ease of doing business were relatively low, the country’s foreign exchange reserves were not very comfortable and we were not getting much foreign direct investments. On all these counts, we are in a much better shape today,” he told media.

Is the BJP really concerned about India’s poor?

by Alf Gunvald Nilsen

“… We have initiated technology-driven solutions to problems, encouraged start-ups by small entrepreneurs and taken steps to move people out of agriculture and the informal sector.”

Some economists concede that one of the positive features of the Indian economy in the last five years has been the low rate of inflation. But this, they argue, is largely because the country has benefitted from low international crude oil prices.

Dependent on oil

India is dependent on imported crude oil to meet more than 80 percent of its requirements. Oil imports comprise around a third of the country’s total import bill thus impacting the country’s external balance of payments as well as the rate of inflation.

“The performance of the government on the economic front has been pretty bad if you consider the fact that over the last five years, the country has benefitted from a massive windfall on account of low crude oil prices to the extent of not less than two percent of our GDP each year,” said Abhijit Sen, a prominent economist and former member of the now-defunct Planning Commission.

We have to work harder to create job opportunities for the youth

GOPAL AGARWAL, THE BJP SPOKESPERSON

He believes that low oil prices kept inflation under check, the external balance of payments under control and ensured that the quality of government finances – including the fiscal deficits of the state governments and the central government – did not deteriorate. “Under the circumstances, the rate of growth of GDP was creditable though not as good as the government is claiming,” he said.

As world crude oil prices have firmed up over the last year or so, the inflation rate has inched up. High real rates of interest have squeezed corporate profits and suppressed consumer demand as well – sales of passenger cars and two-wheelers are down.

After coming to power, the Modi government launched a slew of welfare schemes, including a programme to give free cooking gas cylinders to women in poor households and opening bank accounts to directly transfer the benefits of government subsidies to the underprivileged.

An “insolvency and bankruptcy code” was put in place to resolve problems related to financially stressed assets of firms leading to unpaid loans taken from banks.

GST

But the opposition has accused the Modi government of not doing enough to prevent high-profile businessmen from fleeing India after defaulting billions of dollars of bank loans.

The biggest “reform” measure of the government was the movement towards a unified Goods and Services Tax (GST) in July 2017 that subsumed India’s complicated and messy indirect taxes regime spread across 29 states and seven federally-administered regions.

The rolling out of the GST regime, touted by the government as a classic instance of “fiscal federalism,” however, has been stymied by poor planning and implementation besides an erratic internet infrastructure.

Arguably the most important reason why the beneficial impact of the rollout of the GST was not felt was on account of the unprecedented act of banning 86 percent of the currency in circulation in 2016.READ MORE

Modi kicks off election campaign with promise of ‘new India’

Modi claimed that the shock decision would constrain the use of illegal money or black money – or the money that is not accounted for in government records – in the economy and check the use of fake currency notes by “terrorists”. Later, the government claimed that demonetisation, as the note ban was called, would usher in a “cashless” or “less-cash” society. 

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the move as an act of “organised loot and legalised plunder”.

Demonetisation “destroyed the country’s job-creating potential and badly hurt those employed in the informal sector that accounts for over 90 percent of the country’s economy,” Sen, the economist, said.

Critics said that the credibility of the economic data put out has plummeted as the government was accused of trying to manipulate it.

Economists like R Nagaraj, professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development research, Mumbai, claim that instead of a GDP growth of eight percent and 8.2 percent in fiscal years (ending 31 March) 2017 and 2018 respectively, the “actual” numbers could be two percentage points lower.

Poor performance of the agricultural sector

Even if one accepts the figures put out by the government’s Central Statistics Office, the estimated rate of growth of GDP in fiscal year 2019 has been brought down from 7.2 percent to seven percent, the lowest in five years.

“Almost all data other than the GDP growth figures, including other items in the National Accounts Statistics, shows the economy has been doing poorly in the last five years,” said Surajit Mazumdar, an economist and professor at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.

“Agriculture, manufacturing and construction, investment, foreign trade, bank credit, wages, government revenues – trends in all of these show clear signs of an extremely sluggish economy incapable of creating employment opportunities that so many desperately need,” he said.

Mazumdar contends that “this is not surprising given the fact that the Modi government has consistently emphasised fiscal consolidation and reduction of the deficit – which is more about the state withdrawing from the economy rather than doing something for the economy”.

One of the reasons for the sluggish rate of growth of the economy has been the poor performance of the agricultural sector. Both the BJP and the Congress party have promised to implement schemes to provide a “minimum basic income” for farming families with small land holdings and low incomes.

What is acknowledged by all is that farming in the country has become extremely risky and provides loa returns. Close to one out of two Indians depend on agriculture for their livelihood.

“Our performance on the agriculture front has also been pretty dismal with the rate of growth of crop output less than one percent per annum over the last five years,” Sen pointed out.READ MORE

Don’t back politics that divides: Indian scientists urge voters

Hundreds of thousands of farmers have marched on the streets of the national capital, Delhi and the country’s commercial capital, Mumbai to draw attention to their plight.  

Curiously, even as Modi has been emphasising nationalism and the country’s unity in campaign speeches, his political opponents – comprising a motley combination of regional political outfits and India’s “grand old party,” the Congress, which has become weaker than ever before – are emphasising on economic issues.

The opposition has been hammering the incumbent’s government for its failure to create jobs for the youth, make farming less risky, disrupting the economy by demonetisation, allowing bad loans of banks to balloon and increasing the gap between the rich and the poor.

Even if the number of income tax assessments went up after demonetisation, many economists believe the big-bang decision hurt the weakest sections of India’s population the most – women and children dependent on them, senior citizens, farmers, daily-wage labourers and small traders and shopkeepers.

Do or Die battle for JDS while existence itself proves to be a challenge for Congress

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By : Manohar Yadavatti.

The ensuing general elections to the Parliament has given rise to a piquant situation like never before in the state since the ruling Janata Dal Secular(JDS)is literally facing agrave threat of being decimated while the Indian National Congress(INC), another coalitionpartner is equally at distress facing a vexed problem of identity crisis!

Both the JDS and INC have been traditional rivals from several decades before they clinched a deal after 2004 general elections to form a Congress led JDS supported government in the state.Interestingly the grand alliance of sharing power was toppled by none other than HD Kumaraswamy,present Chief Minister to form a JDS-BJP government in order to become the chief minister.
Although the new power sharing arrangement came into being with an understanding of enjoying the helms of affairs on a 20:20 months formula, HD Devegowda,national JDS president reportedly threatened his son of consuming poison if at all he handed over the regime to BJP!
The senior gowda,as he is popularly revered in party circles had then contended that his secular credentials would be thrown into the wind if such a thing takes place.But during all the 20 months when his son ruled the state with the help of the same ‘Communal Party’ his commitment for secularism had remained intact!
Interestingly HD Devegowda is dubiously known for befriending and ditching people in public life.The list of close followers turned associates emerging into adversaries and bete noire is endless and there looks to be no indication of it coming to an end in near future.
The hitherto sworn enemies emerged into strange bed partners on the eve of the outcome of May 2018 Assembly elections thus leading to a JDS-INC coalition government with the sole intention of keeping the saffron party at a safe distance from the corridors of power.
Soon after assuming the office HD Kumaraswamy had publicly declared:The Congress party has extended unconditional support for my party to retain power for the entire five years tenure.However it’s longevity cannot be predicted but one thing is for sure that this government will continue at least till the Lok Sabha elections are over.The ongoing political developments in the state are also hinting about the same situation sooner or later if the writing on the wall is an indication in this regard.
Volunteers of both these alliance parties are terrifically upset over the seat sharing arrangements for Lok Sabha elections as has been evinced in all the eight constituencies allotted to the JDS.
JDS was left with no option but for returning Bengaluru North and Udupi-Chikmagalur constituencies to the Congress for lacking suitable party candidates to contest!Muralidhar Halappa,Man Friday of Dr G Parameshwar,Deputy Chief Minister opined the new development as a challenge to both the parties:SP Muddahanumegowda,sitting Congress MP and KN Rajanna,former Madhugiri Congress MLA have withdrawn from the fray and are working for HD Devegowda.
He also stressed at the gravity of the situation in Tumakuru:If the coalition government has to continue Devegowda’s victory is crucial and there’s no way the Congress party can let the opportunity be lost for whatsoever reasons.HD Devegowda is camping in the Tumakuru guest house of Dr G Parameshwar,who also runs a group of educational institutions including medical and engineering colleges.
It’s true that the followers of Siddaramaiah belonging to the shepherd community were aghast for ensuring the defeat of their mass leader by the JDS candidate in Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency of Mysuru district.Thanks to Siddaramaiah’s persuasion,they have all agreed to support the JDS candidate,claims Muralidhar Halappa.
But local sources at Tumakuru have altogether a different inside story to reveal:GS Basavaraj,BJP candidate and KN Rajanna,former Madhugiri Congress MLA have business interests in common while his proximity with Shafi Ahmed,former legislator and prominent Muslim JDS leader is well known in political circles.For being a former Congressman he also has enough supporters and admirers within the Congress as well.
While a senior local journalist confided:In a way GS Basavaraj can be attributed as Devegowda of Tumakuru as irrespective of either being in Congress or BJP,for him family interests are of utmost priority.GB Jyothi Ganesh,Tumakuru BJP MLA is his son.He had been a Tumakuru MP multiple times both on INC and BJP tickets.
In all the three,Mandya,Tumakuru and Hassan constituencies wherein Devegowda and two grandchildren are in the electoral fray, top leaders of JDS and INC give an public impression of being together and there’s no requirement to mention that such a gesture is more of compulsion and much of reluctance.B Shivaram,former Congress minister and ex Gandasi MLA had been fighting the Devegowda family highhandedness in Hassan district politics way back from 1983.Thanks to his money and muscle power,over a period of time he has evolved himself into a tough opponent to take on the DG family head on politically.
But now he with great difficulty is trying to keep self imposed silence on whatever queries you may have to him on his past struggle which is also a major part of Hassan district’s political history.A grim looking B Shivaram appeals with folded hands:No questions on what has transpired so far…Pl wait for elections to be over and I will be free to reply to all your queries.As of now I am a committed party worker adhering to the alliance formula.But the situation for JDS is the worst possible in Mandya as the Congress cadre is openly campaigning for Ms Sumalatha Ambareesh,BJP supported Independent candidate.But for a couple of them most of the leaders abstained away from the JDS-INC coordination meetings.
In fact the Congress workers have openly challenged the high command to expel them from the party if it deems it fit do do so.Cheluvarayswamy,former JDS leader and one time confidant of HD Kumaraswamy turned foe has been sharpening the knife since long to scuttle scores with his erstwhile political mentor.
PM Narendraswamy,former minister and Malavalli MLA also has remained far away from the electioneering campaign of Nikhil Kumaraswamy,JDS candidate from Mandya.Both these Congress leaders have refused to budge and have openly violated the directions of the party.Dinesh Gundurao,president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee(KPCC) has hinted of recommending expulsion of both these leaders from the party.Mandya Congress committee is a classic case of a divided house.Not just the Congress even the JDS cadre is upset over the selection of the candidate and are colluding with Congressmen to campaign for the Independent candidate.

Campaign ends for bypolls to 18 Assembly seats in TN

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(EMBARGO : FOR PUBLICATION/BROADCAST AFTER 1700 HRS)

Chennai, Apr 16 (UNI) The campaigning for the byelections to 18 Assembly seats, which also goes to the polls along with 39 Lok Sabha seats on April 18, ended on Tuesday evening.

This would be the first time, a sort of ‘mini’ election was being held along with the Parliamentary seats, when polling would be simultaneously to fill 18 of the 22 Assembly seats.

This is the first time, bypolls are being held to fill such a large number of vacancies in the electoral history of the State, proving an acid test for the leadership qualities of the ruling AIADMK and the principal Opposition DMK, who were without the presence of two personalities late Chief Ministers
J Jayalalitha and DMK Chief M Karunanidhi.

More than the Lok sabha polls, the bypoll to 18 Assembly seats is more crucial for the stability of
the government, and the party has to win a good number of seats to ensure a simple majority in
the 234-member House.

The AIADMK has also got the support of all its allies for the bypolls to all 22 seats to be contested
by it. though by-poll is being held only for 18. For the remaining four seats it will be held on May 19.

The strength of AIADMK in the Assembly has come down to 114 from 136 (when it won in 2016)–three short of a simple majority–after the disqualification of 18 rebel MLAs owing allegiance to TTV Dhinakaran, who later founded the AMMK.

Three Independents, who won on AIADMK ‘Two Leaves’ symbol in 2016 Assemblky polls, have also turned against the Government and were supporting Dhinakaran, who was elected as Independent from RK Nagar Assembly seat in the by-election, which was held by Ms Jayalalithaa.

Three other MLAs too were said to be moving closer to AMMK.

While 18 fell vacant following the disqualification of rebel MLAs, two fell vacant following the death of sitting members (Tiruvarur held by Mr M Karunanidhi and Tiruparankundram held by AIADMK MLA
A K Bose) and Hosur fell vacant following the conviction of former Minister P Balakrishna Reddy by
a court.

Recently, the Sulur seat also fell vacant due to the death of AIADMK MLA Kanagaraj on March 21, taking the number of vacancies to 22.

Byelections would be held for Perambur, Tiruporur, Poonamallee, Ambur, Gudiyatham, Sholinghur, Tiruvaur, Thanjavur, Hosur, Harur, Pappireddipatti, Andipatti, Manamadurai, Nilakottai, Paramakudi,
Periyakulam, Sattur, Vilathikulam.

For the ruling AIADMK it will be a test of the popularity of the post-Jayalaitha regime headed by Edappadi K Palanisami and Deputy Chief Minister O Pannerselvam.

The party split after the revolt by Panneerselvam against Jaya’s close aide V K Sasikala and her nephew Dhinakaran, who were since been expelled after the warring EPS-OPS factions merged
and disqualified rebel legislators, a decision by the Assembly Speaker upheld by the Madras High Court.

The reunited factions have recognition as official AIADMK, plus the hugely popular ‘Two Leaves’ symbol and the flag from the Election Commission.

The Opposition DMK, which has a combined strength of 97 members in the House (DMK-88, Congress-8 and IUML-1), has been targetting the government, charging it with sacrificing
Tamil Nadu’s interests and was being ‘remote-controlled’ by the BJP government at the Centre.

Rajnath holds grand road show before filing nomination papers for Lucknow seat

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Lucknow, Apr 16 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday filed his nomination from the Lucknow parliamentary seat.
Before reaching the Collectorate, Mr Rajnath’s road show crossed the BJP party office, Hazratganj chauraha and the District Magistrate’s residence.
UP Deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya, Dr Dinesh Sharma, former Union Minister and senior leader Kalraj Mishra, national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi and other senior leaders, ministers and MLAs were present during the road show.
Before that, Mr Rajnath Singh addressed party workers and said he had visited 10 states of the country and the kind of enthusiasm he witnessed in UP and Lucknow was present in the whole country, adding that there was a ‘Modi wave’ in the country.
He also said that Mr Modi will again become the Prime Minister.
Janata Dal (United) chief General Secretary KC Tyagi was also present on this occasion and the leader said that the people of Ghaziabad wish that Mr Singh should contest from Ghaziabad the next time.

He also said that Mr Singh was the farmers’ leader.
Mr Rajnath reached Lucknow on Monday evening itself and the preparations to make the road show grand were inspected till late night.
BJP candidate from Mohanlalganj seat Kaushal Kishore was also present on the day.
However, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath could not attend the road show as the Election Commission had on Monday barred him from any kind of campaigning.

Sons of two former CMs in fray from Shivamogga LS seat

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Bengaluru, Apr 16 : Shivamogga, once the cradle of the socialist movement in Karnataka and now a BJP’s hunting ground, is witnessing a fierce battle between sons of two former chief ministers to gain entry to Parliament in the April 23 elections.

The Shivamogga seat, which went to bypolls in November, in which the BJP candidate B Y Raghavendra, son of former Karnataka Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, had won with a comfortable margin, is once again
facing Madhu Bangarappa, the JD(S)-Congress alliance, candidate, also son of late S Bangarappa, also a former Chief minister.

The BJP candidate and the sitting Lok Sabha member had to sweat it out to pip the JD(S) candidate in the November-2018 bypolls, is leaving no stone unturned to woo the voters, who had sent him twice to Parliament in the past.

While the district is in the news for the outbreak of the monkey fever, a disease usually found in forest covered areas, the issues of regularisation of the unauthorised cultivation of revenue and forest land, closure of the Mysore Paper Mills, the sickness of the Visvesvaraya Steel plant also hogs the limelight in the district.

While the sitting BJP member Raghavendra is yet to come out of the shell of his father B S Yeddyurappa’s clout despite being elected as the Lok Sabha member to the Karnataka Assembly, the Congress supported JD(S) candidate Madhu Bangarappa, is also banking on the popularity of his late father and former chief minister S Bangarappa.

The JD(S)-Congress alliance candidate Madhu Bangarappa is trying to win the focus of the voters by highlighting the achievements of the JD(S)-Congress, coalition government, including that of farm loan waiver, several pro-people populist schemes introduced by the Congress government led by Siddaramaiah.

The BJP candidate Raghavendra is trying to woo the voters by pointing out his achievements, including that of sanctioning of Natinal Highways, extension of Railway networks, introduction of new trains between Bengaluru and Shivamogga.

The strong impact of the undercurrent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s wave, and a well knitted Sangh Pariwar volunteers should come to the aid of the Saffron candidate, Raghavendra, the pre-poll alliance between JD(S) and the Congress is working in favour of Madhu Bangarappa.

The constituency, consisting significant number of Lingayats, Brahmins, SC and STs, beside OBCs, seems to have been divided as the supporters of both the parties, with an exception of the Muslim minorities.

While prima facie it appears, it should be a cakewalk for the BJP, as the saffron party was succeeded in getting as many as 7 Assembly seats in the 2018 Elections, while the JD(S) drew blank and the Congress one.

?However with the coming together of anti-BJP parties, the outcome would be different this time? Manjunath, a paper vendor, opined.

While as many as 12 candidates, including BSP are in the fray, the main fight is between two traditional rivals, Congress supported JD(S) and the BJP in the constituency, which goes to poll on April-23, the second phase elections in Karnataka.

Coalition partners Congress, JD(S) face acid test in Old Mysore region

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Mysuru, Apr 16 : The arch foes turned coalition partners in Karnataka ? Congress and Janata Dal (S), who have forged a pre-poll alliance for the first time in the State’s electoral history face a stern test in the five Lok Sabha seats of Old Mysore region for which the polling will be held in the first phase on April 18.
Despite hiccups when some Congress party workers and leaders refused to campaign in support of Janata Dal (S) candidates until Congress State and central leadership intervened. But the mistrust is refusing to die causing anxiety among the candidates as well as the State and central leaders.
Prominent among those who are contesting in this election from coalition parties if former Prime Minister H D Devegowda (Tumakuru) and his grandsons Prajwal Revanna (Hassan) and Nikhil K (Mandya). While Prajwal is the son of PWD Minister H D Revanna, Nikhil is the son of chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, the two sons of Devegowda.
The other two seats are Mysuru and Chamarajanagara segments.
Which the ruling coalition giving final touches to seeking voters in the region retain the four seats, countdown began the end of public campaigning today.
Both third generation Devegowda family candidates are facing tough task against A Manju the BJP candidate in Hassan and actor Sumalatha, an independent candidate supported by the BJP in Mandya.
In the other two seats in the region, Congress has fielded C H Vijyashankar in Mysuru while R Dhruvanarayana is contesting from Chamarajanagara. Both are fighting against BJP sitting member Pratap Simha and former union minister V Sreenivasa Prasad.
The high voltage election campaign in this region with BJP bringing in prime minister Narendra Modi, who addressed the a hugely successful rally in Mysuru, and state leaders former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and others are on the campaign in these parts.
Congress party has roped in the AICC President Rahul Gandhi who addressed the joint rally at K R Nagara, Devegowda along with Congress leaders including former chief minister Siddaramiah campaigned jointly in all the five constituencies .
Meanwhile, chief minister H D Kumraswamy, who has taken the elections seriously as the fate of his son is involved and any loss in Mandya may ultimately destabilise the State government itself made several rounds of the campaign in Mandya alone.
JDS even brought Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandra Babu Nadu who campaigned for the Nikhil yesterday.
JD-S sources told UNI that despite reluctance on part of some Congress leaders and workers in Mandya and Hassan, the party had made all efforts to ensure victory of its candidates using its cadre.
”As we are sharing power in the state, a pre-poll alliance to jointly contest the Lok Sabha polls will prevent division of votes in a straight fight with the BJP, unlike in a triangular contest that benefits our rival party (BJP),” a JD(S) leader said.
Deve Gowda himself is contesting from Tumkur, and not his old constituency Hassan, from where he won for record six times since 1991.
While Prajwal is expected to sail through from the Gowda family turf of Hassan, his cousin Nikhil is facing a tough fight from multilingual actress Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of later actor-turned politician M H Ambareesh.
The saffron party has stayed away from a direct fight in these elections, owning to its weak presence in Mandya.
Though 29-year-old Nikhil is betting on the support of his politically-dominant Vokkaliga community and the party’s legislators who won from all the eight Assembly segments in the constituency in the May 2018 elections, 55-year-old Sumalatha is no pushover. She is betting on the popularity of her late husband, a native of Mandya, who won the seat thrice, twice on Congress and once on JD-S ticket.
Ambareesh, a legislator from the Mandya Assembly seat and a minister in the Congress government (2013-2016), died on November 24, 2018 in Bengaluru at the age of 66, generating a massive sympathy wave for Sumalatha from his legion of fans.
Though the alliance partners have agreed to campaign together for joint candidates in all 28 seats, the district Congress leaders and cadres in Mandya, however, refused to join their JD-S counterparts to seek votes for Nikhil due to simmering discontent.
The rivalry between the two parties is so intense that even in Hassan, Congress members are not campaigning for Prajwal who faces A. Manju, a former Congress Minister who joined the BJP recently.
In retaliation, the JD-S workers have refused to campaign for Congress candidate Vijayashankar in Mysore. However, with the intervention of the former chief minister Siddaramiah and district incharge minister G T Deve Gowda, they begun their joint campaign which has eased the tension to some extend.
In Chamarajanagara, the campaign by both the parties are based on road shows and rallies, besides they are reaching out the voters directly in door-to door visits.
During the last 2014 elections JD-S has won Hassan and Mandya, BJP in Mysuru and Congress had won in Chamarajanagara and Tumakuru.

Modi not serious about farmers problems: Sharad Pawar

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Osmanabad, Apr 16 : Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state Chief minister Devendra Fadanvis of not being serious about issues of farmers.
“Apart from solving problems of farmers, the present dispensation is only involved in criticizing Gandhi-Nehru family in their election campaigning” Mr Pawar said.
On Monday, while addressing an election rally here at Zilla Parishad Kanya Prashala ground in support of Rana Jagatsinh Patil, NCP candidate from Osmanabad Lok Sabha constituency, Mr Pawar said that if Mahagathbandhan (grand-alliance) comes into the power, total loan of farmers would be waived off without any delay.

“During the UPA tenure we had taken the decision to waive Rs 70,000 crore loan and it was implemented within period of eight days,” he said.

Talking about BJP-led state government loan waiver scheme of Rs 34,000 crore, he alleged that so far, only 10 to 15 percent farmers were benefitted by the scheme.

Mr Pawar further said during the present government farmers are not getting ‘adequate return’ to their farm products, adding that farmers are in severe loss under the rule of present government.

The NCP chief said that Mr Modi is not speaking on the issues of farmers, farmers suicides and unemployment, adding that during the election rallies the PM is only targetting Nehru-Gandhi families and further asked Mr Modi that doesn’t he know both of the families had sacrificed their lives for the country.

Referring to Mr Modi’s statement over Pawar family crises, the NCP supremo said, “we all are okay and he should not worry about our family.”
Mr Pawar also demanded that Mr Modi should clarify on the massive surge in pricing of Rafale jets. “How has the cost gone to Rs 1600 crore from Rs 350 crores in just two years.” he asked.

Mr Pawar also lambasted Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray for forging alliance with BJP and that too just before the elections as Mr Thackeray had been a strong critique of Modi government from past four years.
Before election rally Mr Pawar also visited the family of Vijay Dawale at Kasbe Tadwale who had committed suicide after he was cheated by the bank chairman Vijay Dandnaik and Shiv Sena candidate Om Raje Nimbalkar, whose name he had mentioned in his suicide note.

IT department conducted raids in JDS dominated constituencies in Karnataka

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Bengaluru, Apr 16 : The Income Tax authorities have conducted simultaneous raids in the JD(S) dominated two Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka.
According to official sources, the raids are being conducted on the premises and business establishments of those who were identified as the supporters of the JD(S) candidates.
While in Hassan, the IT sleuths are holding search operations on the supporters of the JD(S) candidate Prajwal Revanna, besides that of Patel Shivaram, a former MLC, Papanni, a former Zilla Panchayat Member and Karle Indresh, a close supporters of the PWD minister H D Revanna.
Prajval, son of Revanna is the JD(S) candidate in the prestigious Hassan Lok Sabha seat, which had been represented by the former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and allowed his grand-son to contest in the segment this time and has shifted to Tumakuru.
According to sources, the raids were also going on in Mandya Lok Sabha seat, where son of the Karnataka Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, Nikhil K, is fighting an independent candidate and senior actor Sumalatha, the widow of the former Union minister and cine actor-turned politician, Ambharish.
The houses of the Zilla Panchayat president Nagarathna Swamy and Thimme Gowda, also a Zilla Panchayath member, are being raided by the IT officials over suspicion of tax evasions, the sources added.

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