Stung by the attack launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath against him, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today took Twitter to hit out at them.

With hashtag #ModiHitWicket, Siddaramaiah posed a question to Modi as he arrived for extensive campaigning in Kalaburagi, Ballari and Bengaluru.

Siddaramaiah reminded Modi to mention about the “loot of Rs 35,000 crore worth iron ore””allegedly by BJP’s Janardhana Reddy.

Congress has alleged that eight of “Reddy Gang” members have been given ticket for the assembly election.

Siddaramaiah tweeted, “Dear PM Modi, As you arrive in Bellary, we look forward to hear your commentary on corruption. Don’t forget to mention Reddy’s record scam score of 35,000 cr & still not out. With star players like Yeddy-Reddy, your score in Karnataka will be well short of “60.”

He also asked Modi how he was asking for vote for “a” candidate who is the brother of the mining mafia kingpin G Janardhana Reddy who brought shame to Bellary & the state.”

“And you say Congress has insulted Bellary. Pray, how?” He concluded his tweet by saying “There should be a limit to lies.

Siddaramaiah also retweeted former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav’s tweet pointing to an alleged gaffe by Modi during his speech at Kalaburagi today.

Modi while addressing poll rallies in Karnataka said the Congress is a party that has disrespected the armed forces.

“Forgetting the national heroes, patriots and history is the nature of a family in the Congress. (Jawaharlal) Nehru and V K Krishna Menon insulted General (KS) Thimayya, who had to resign. They neglected Field Marshal (K M) Cariappa,” Modi told an election rally, as he sought to connect with the voters of the home state of the two legends of the Army.

Modi said all know what treatment Congress gave to the two legends.

Modi said India defeated Pakistan in 1948 under the leadership of General Thimayya.

“But after the valour,General Thimayya who saved Kashmir was repeatedly insulted by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the then defence minister V K Krishna Menon and because of which General Thimayya had to resign from his post. I want the new generation of Karnataka to know about Congress party’s attitude towards the chief of army, who was the son of Karnataka.”

Yadav tweeted, “No sir, Krishna Menon was Defence Minister from April 1957 to October 1962. Thimayya was Army Chief from May 1957 to May 1961. Sir can’t the PMO afford a fact-checker? It’s so embarrassing!”

Siddaramaiah tweeted that Karnataka holds its revered son Field Marshal K M Cariappa in high esteem.

Instead of doing politics in his name, Modi should “list five things he has done for Karnataka”, Siddaramaiah said and posed a few questions.

Siddaramaiah also expressed his frustration by saying he asks questions to Modi but he diverted attention to history, clothes and pronunciations.

Siddaramaiah’s six questions pertained to when Centre would give approval to Kannada flag, amendment to rules for banking recruitment exams; making knowledge fof Kannada knowledge compulsory for banking jobs in Karnataka, his intervention on Mahadayi river row between Karnataka and Goa, stopping divestment of ‘Bengaluru’s jewel’ BEML and rectifying ‘the injustice done to Bengaluru by taking away Rafale from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

Siddaramaiah flayed Adityanath for being in Karnataka for electioneering when 64 people lost their lives due to a storm in Uttar Pradesh.

“My heartfelt condolences to the families, who have lost their loved ones (due to storm in UP). I am sorry your CM is needed here in Karnataka. I am sure he will return soon & attend to his work there,” Siddaramaiah said.

Days after praising former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda that set off speculation of a possible coming together of the BJP and the Janata Dal-Secular in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the JD-S would finish a distant third in the Assembly polls and wondered why people should waste votes on that party.

Addressing a meeting, the Prime Minister also hit out at the Congress, accusing it of spreading rumours of a hung Assembly.

“The JD-S cannot form its own government and it cannot even remove the Congress from power. Why should any sensible voter vote for it?” he asked.

Modi said the JD-S had done a crime by joining hands with extremists and communal forces and by doing so it has tried to play with the future of Karnataka.

At a BJP rally in Udupi on Tuesday, the Prime Minister had showered praise on Deve Gowda, the JD-S patriarch and an influential Vokkaliga leader.

“I heard that the Congress President criticized the respected Deve Gowdaji at an election rally 15-20 days ago. Is that your culture?” Modi said, seemingly directing the question at Rahul Gandhi.

“Such arrogance. You are starting your political life and Deve Gowdaji is one of the greatest leaders of our country,” Modi said.

That set off speculation that the BJP and JD-S could come together post-poll in case of a hung verdict, which many poll surveys had predicted.

Attacking the Congress, Modi said: “Be it 2104 Lok Sabha polls or any other elections to the state assemblies, whenever Congress is sure of its defeat, it starts spreading rumours like nobody is going to get majority or there will be a hung Assembly. They start spreading a lie. When the Congress starts spreading such lies, it means the BJP is winning,” he said.

He said that all the political pundits or survey agencies were of the clear opinion that the JD-S will finish at a distant number three.

Modi said the enthusiasm of people in Karnataka towards the BJP was a clear indication that they would dethrone the Congress.

“The people of Karnataka have no faith in Congress government, its Chief Minister and other ministers,” he said.

The BJP and the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU), which together rule Jharkhand, will contest the by-election in the Assembly constituency of Gomia separately. But the BJP will support the AJSU in Silli.

The AJSU is fighting both the seats. It has fielded party president Sudesh Mahto from Silli and Lambodar Mahto from Gomia.

“We stand by our decision to fight the Gomia Assembly seat and support AJSU in Silli. We will follow the ‘coalition dharma’ in Silli,” BJP state President Lakshman Giluwa told reporters.

He said that in the 2014 Assembly polls, the BJP fielded a candidate from Gomia and left Silli for AJSU.

The BJP is yet to announce the name of its candidate from Gomia.

The opposition parties have united to give a tough fight to ruling NDA. All the main opposition parties like the Congress and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik have announced their support to JMM candidates.

On Friday, the JMM announced it will field the wife of disqualified legislators from both the seats. Seema Mahto, wife of Amit Mahto, and Babita Devi, wife of Yogendra Mahto, will contest from Silli and Gomia respectively.

Both seats fell vacant after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislators Yogendra Mahto from Gomia and Amit Mahto from Silli were disqualified after being awarded two years imprisonment in different cases.

Distribution of tickets to close aides of the main accused in mining scam in Karnataka and denial of ticket to son of party’s chief ministerial candidate may cause damage to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has a neck and neck fight with the Congress which is ruling the state.

The BJP had scored over the main rival, Congress, by refusing to allot Varuna seat to son of Yeddiurappa, Vijayendra. But it lost the point gained over it by accommodating as many as seven persons close to Janardhan Reddy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s U-turn and attack on Thursday on the Janata Dal (Secular) or JDS has also caused confusion and not given a clear signal.

One really wonders why has he changed the stand after a day? On the labour day he had shown bonhomie with the party and its founder, former PM, H D Deve Gowda. In return, Gowda had used some good words for Modi. In some circles it was taken as a sign of growing closeness between the two.

The JDS can play a crucial role in case of a hung Assembly and good relationship between the two can keep the Congress away from power.

Perhaps, Modi changed his stand and asked voters not to back the party because his association with it, in his view, may affect the BJP’s prospects. He may have thought that the best thing is to keep the people guessing about its future plans.

Some voters may shift to the Congress because of change in relationship with the JDS. There is no need for a show of solidarity with any party at the moment. The party may think on how to cross the bridge when it reaches the bridge.

It may be a good strategy, but denial of ticket to Vijayendra does not seem to be so. Though his father has put up a brave face and denied that it will affect the result, but Vijayendra has made his resentment known.

In an interview to a paper he has said that the party will lose ten to fifteen seats. “What has hurt workers is that the party top leadership had given green signal initially and that is why they had fanned out and begun canvassing. It was much later that it decided to offer Varuna seat to some one else”, he has been quoted as saying.

The party largely depends on Lingayats for success and he belongs to this caste. In a tight contest, like this, a small section of voters can matter.

What could be the reason behind it? One reply is that it provided a stick to the BJP to beat the Congress. The party has been attacking the Congress for playing dynastic politics and the denial decision went well with it. But this is not a new issue. If win was the main concern it could be set aside. At least most of his supporters who had gone beserk after announcement of party list think on this line only.

“If the party cared so much for principle, it should not have given tickets to tainted Reddy brothers”, one of them pointed out. “Why was Yeddyurappa declared chief ministerial candidate? He was charged with corruption and has gone in jail in this connection. It should have gone for a clean-image candidate if it was opposed to dynastic rule and corruption”, some others argued.

Selection of Yeddy has weakened the party’s attack on chief minister Siddaramaiah whom the party has called as the most corrupt and who to Modi is “Sidda Rupaiya”.

The party seems to be mainly banking on scheduled castes, in addition to Lingayats. It has been indicated by roping in Sriramulu. He is a party MP but had still been asked to contest this year’s Assembly elections because he is a popular Dalit leader. He is fighting against Sidda in Badami, one of two seats CM is contesting from.

His closeness to Reddy family may , however, upset the party’s game-plan.

Inspite of all this, what is heartening to the BJP is large crowd which is collecting at PM’s meeting venues. According to one estimate, more than a lakh of people had come to listen to him in Chamarajanagar district which was his first stop in the last leg of campaigning.

In view of this, the party has planned more Modi’s rallies in next five days. He was scheduled to address only 15 rallies between May 1 and 10 (last day of loud campaigning). The number may go up considerably now. Clearly, it still largely depends on “Modi magic”.

Hindusthan Samachar/ R. Narayan/ Shri Ram Shaw

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “natural liar”, and said he had insulted Bengaluru by referring to it as a garbage city.

Gandhi’s condemnation comes a day after Modi attacked the Congress party’s government in Karnataka for destroying the cityscape.

“Calling Bengaluru, the garden city and the pride of India a garbage city is insulting,” Gandhi tweeted and attached an infographic detailing the money spent by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance as compared to funding provided by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government on urban infrastructure.

On Thursday, Modi at a poll rally in Kengeri on Bengaluru’s outskirts blasted the Siddaramaiah government for allegedly turning India’s Silicon Valley into a “sin valley” and Bengaluru into a “crime capital”.

Though Bengaluru was admired the world over as a garden city, Modi said, the state government had turned it into a “garbage city”, as it had no concern for basic amenities.

Gandhi in his tweet said: “Building lies comes naturally to you, but you seem to find building cities very difficult. The data nails your lies.”

The attached infographic, sourcing the Union Ministry of Urban Development, stated: “Congress-UPA provided 1,100 per cent more funds to Karnataka’s cities compared to Modi government.

“Urban infrastructure funds to Karnataka (from) Congress: Rs 6,570 crore (and from) Bharatiya Janata Party: Rs 598 crore.”

Karnataka chief minister appeared confident of winning from both the constituencies – Chamundeshwari and Badami – and ruled out an alliance with the JD(S). He said that the Congress will win the election alone and won’t need the support of JD(S).

a hung Assembly in Karnataka election and predicting JD(S) to be the kingmaker, both BJP and Congress have reportedly denied a post-poll alliance with JD(S).

Siddaramaiah had earlier also said that the Congress will sweep back to power and alleged an alliance between the BJP and the JD(S), which was later denied by both parties. “In many constituencies, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) have joined hands, but they still would not be able to defeat us as the people are with us,” Siddaramaiah.

Even the BJP has ruled out an alliance with the JD(S) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked people not to “waste” their votes on JD(S) as it will come a distant third in the election. “Surveys say JD(S) will be a distant third, they can’t form a government. They cannot even remove the Congress from power. So no one should waste their vote on them,” he said at a rally in Bengaluru.

The prime minister also hit out at JD(S) and said that the party had joined hands with extremists and communal forces. “JD(S) has done a big disservice as they have invited from other states extremist and highly communalist forces and those who support extremism into Karnataka and formed an alliance with them,”he said.

Even BJP’s chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa ruled out a post-poll alliance with the JD(S) “as of now”. He said the party would secure a majority and form the government. “There is no question of post-poll alliance with JD(S) as of now,” Yeddyurappa said.

Meanwhile, the JD(S) is not too happy with the tag of the ‘kingmaker’. JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy, a son of Deve Gowda, had said that he would emerge as the “king” and not a “kingmaker” after the elections.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, is all set to conclude the eighth leg of his campaign in the poll-bound state by addressing public and corner meetings in Kalburgi, Gadag and Haveri districts today.

Karnataka BJP chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa on Friday promised to re-introduce the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Preservation Bill 2012 if the party came to power in the assembly elections slated for next week. At the inauguration of the election manifesto, Yeddyurappa stressed on the party’s commitment towards welfare of the farmers and also announced various measures for them in the state.Besides this, the party also promised to launch the Mukhya Mantri Smartphone Yojane to provide smartphones, free of cost, to women below poverty line.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, is all set to conclude the eighth leg of his campaign in the poll-bound state by addressing public and corner meetings in Kalburgi, Gadag and Haveri districts today.

The state is set to go to the polls on May 12 while counting is scheduled for May 15.

Two days after praising former PM H D Deve Gowda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday did a Uturn, calling upon the people of Karnataka not to waste their votes on the JD(S).

“No matter what political pundits say, JD(S) can only limp to third position. It will not form the government on its own. It cannot remove the Congress. Such being the case, should the wise voters of Karnataka waste their valuable vote on JD(S)?” Modi told a well-attended rally at Kengeri, on the outskirts of Bengaluru on Thursday.
Kengeri is considered the gateway to the Vokkaliga heartland of Ramanagara and Mandya, the JD(S) bastion.
Modi alleged that JD(S) has joined hands with communal forces and supporters of terrorism to win elections. “By doing so, it has not done any good to the people of Karnataka,” he added.

Referring to pre-poll surveys that predicted a fractured verdict in Karnataka, Modi said whenever there was talk of a hung assembly, BJP had emerged victorious and Karnataka would not be an exception. “It is the Congress which is spreading the word about hung assembly. It means BJP is going to win and the enthusiasm of the people also suggests the same,” Modi said.
Earlier in Kalaburagi, Modi sought to whip up Dalit sentiments by highlighting how Congress had dumped its seniormost leader Mallikarjun Kharge by choosing Siddaramaiah over him for the chief minister’s post.
“The Congress only pays lip sympathy to Dalits, to gain political mileage. It sings about Dalits in the runup to the polls, but look at what the Congress has done to its big leader Mallikarjun Kharge (leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha),” Modi said, and added: “Kharge was not made chief minister of Karnataka in 2013 despite being promised.”
In the same breath, Modi targeted Kharge. “When Congress comes to power only a few families benefit,” he said, throwing a poser at the crowd: “Do you know how much wealth Kharge has? Has it helped the Dalits?”

NOT STEEL, BUT ‘STEAL’ BRIDGE

In his half-hour speech at the Bengaluru rally, Modi mounted a scathing attack on the Siddaramaiah government, highlighting issues such as the scrapped steel bridge project, frothing Bellandur lake, vanishing lakes and the involvement of Congress MLA N A Haris’ son Mohammad Nalpad in an attempt to murder case.
“Congress has spoilt the name of Bengaluru in the eyes of the world. They (Congress) have turned the Silicon Valley of India into a valley of sins, the computer capital into a crime capital, Garden City into a garbage city, startup hub into a pothole club and from having a cosmopolitan culture to a culture of chaos,” Modi said.
Referring to the steel bridge project the state government had to drop owing to a public outcry, Modi said: “It was not a steel bridge, but a steal bridge. It was meant to siphon out money to the residences of Congress minsters. But vigilant Bengalureans and BJP workers opposed it tooth and nail, and ensured the project was stalled.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday shared stage with one of the Reddy brothers in Ballari – an act that was seen as putting his weight behind the BJP’s most controversial move in the assembly election in Karnataka. The Reddy brothers – lawmakers and ministers during the earlier BJP government in the state — have been accused of conducting largescale illegal mining across the iron-ore-rich district of Ballary.

Ballari — from where they have been given ticket again — became the second stop in PM Modi’s second visit to the state this week.

The BJP has been facing intense criticism from the Congress since it named Gali Somashekhara Reddy in its second list on April 17. Ticket for a second brother, Gali Karunakara Reddy followed. Gali Janardhana Reddy, a former minister who has the bulk of accusations against him, was soon seen campaigning across the district for the BJP.

The BJP has defended the move as a “compromise”, claiming they are the party’s best chances for a victory in the area. The Central leadership, which presumably approved the move, has been silent despite numerous Congress demands for an explanation.

On thursday, PM Modi shared stage with Gali Somashekhara Reddy at the District Stadium before hundreds of supporters. He did not speak about the candidate or Congress allegations. Instead, he chose to focus on the alleged Congress failures.

“Sonia Gandhi had promised a 3000-crore package to Ballari, but forgot her promise. Despite all the natural resources, Ballari hasn’t be able to develop, because of the government in Bengaluru. This government hasn’t done anything,” the Prime Minister said.

The Reddy brothers represent a chunk of corruption allegations that mushroomed during the BJP government led by BS Yeddyurappa. Gali Somasekhara Reddy is accused of bribing a judge in the cash-for bail case that involved Janardhan Reddy.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who are spearheading the attack on the BJP over corruption, were scathing in their criticism.

Early this morning, Mr Siddaramaiah had welcomed PM Modi with a tweet: “As you arrive in Bellary, we look forward to hear your commentary on corruption. Don’t forget to mention Reddy’s record scam score of 35,000 cr & still not out. With star players like Yeddy-Reddy, your score in Karnataka will be well short of 60.

For the Gauhati Municipal Corporation election training of all Registration Officers for Preparation of Electoral Rolls in respect of all 31 GMC Wards held at Conference hall of Circuit House here today. Tokheswar Muktiar, Secretary, State Election Commission conducted the Training. All the statutory process needed to be followed in preparing Electoral Roll were clearly explained to the Registration Officers. Deba Kumar Mishra, Additional Commissioner, GMC along with election officer Chinmoy Prakash Phookan attended the training and briefed the Registration Officers. It may be noted that the Draft Electoral Rolls for all the 31 wards of GMC shall be published on 5 May 2018.

Hindusthan Samachar/Arvind/Amit Kumar