The KPCC did not give in to tantrums and high drama of former minister MH Ambareesh and gave B-form to Ganiga Ravikumar to contest from Mandya Assembly constituency on the last day of filing of nomination papers.
As a final call, KPCC chief G Parameshwara had called Ambareesh to meet him. However, Ambareesh didn’t turn up to meet the party chief. Left with no other option on the last day of filing of nominations, Congress gave B-form to Ganiga Ravikumar.
Actor-turned-politician Ambareesh had been given a deadline by Congress party to decide on his contest from Mandya assembly constituency. The party followed wait and see approach till the last moment since Ambareesh is a prominent Vokkaliga face in the Congress party. He refused to collect the B-form though his name was announced in the first list.

The Karnataka BJP has appointed party state chief BS Yeddyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra as the Yuva Morcha state general secretary. Announcing the decision, the party twitter handle said that Vijayendra would “be campaigning extensively for candidates in the Old Mysuru region”.

The tweet reads: “Congratulations to Shri BY Vijayendra on his appointment as State General Secretary, Yuva Morcha. His addition will greatly boost the party cadre and strengthen our organisation in the Old Mysuru region. He will be campaigning extensively for candidates in the Old Mysuru region.”

The survey has predicted a massive gain for the saffron party that had won about 40 seats in the 2013 elections and are now expected to win 89 seats while the Congress’ share is predicted to fall from the earlier 122 to 91.
Two opinion polls released on Monday predicted a hung Assembly in Karnataka for the upcoming state elections while also suggesting that Janata Dal (Secular) will play a crucial role in forming the next government, which will be a coalition one.

Hinting at a Congress lead with HD Kumaraswamy’s JDS playing the kingmaker, the Times Now-VMR survey says BJP will come a close second after the ruling Congress. It has given Congress 91 seats in the 224-seat Assembly and BJP 89 seats — a difference of just 2 seats. With 113 seats required to form the government, the JDS-BSP alliance is expected to win 40 seats and thus play a crucial role in forming the next government.

The survey has predicted a massive gain for the saffron party that had won about 40 seats in the 2013 elections and are now expected to win 89 seats while the Congress’ share is predicted to fall from the earlier 122 to 91
The ABP-CSDS survey, on the other hand, has given BJP the lead position with 89-95 seats and 85-91 seats to the incumbent Congress. However, the poll suggests that Congress will improve its vote share but still finish a close second behind the BJP.
The ABP survey, too, has declared HD Kumaraswamy’s JDS as the kingmaker with 32-38 seats.
On the other hand, ranking the different chief ministerial candidates, the poll has ranked CM Siddaramaiah as the “most preferred candidate” for the chief minister’s job. 30% respondents prefer Siddaramaiah as the CM while 25% prefer BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa and about 20% stood up for JDS’ HD Kumaraswamy.

Interestingly, the Times Now survey has also suggested that the much-talked about Lingayat card played by the Congress-led state government would not be of much help to the party. The survey predicts that the party will win only 21 of the 50 seats in Mumbai-Karnataka region where the Lingayats are a dominant community. In 2013, the party had won 31 seats in this region.

The survey further predicts that BJP will gain 10 seats in this region taking its tally to 23 from its 2013 count of 13 seats.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released the fifth list of its eight candidates on Tuesday. The party released the fourth list of its seven candidates yesterday. The saffron party had announced 72 candidates in the first list and 82 candidates in the second list and 59 candidates in the third list.
Constituency and names of BJP candidates in the 5th list:
1)Arasikere= Mariswamy
2)Sakleshpura(SC)= Somashekhar
3)Madhugiri= Ramesh Reddy
4)Shira= S R Gowda
5)Shidlaghatta= H. Suresh
6)Srinivaspura= Dr.Venugopal
7)Mandya= Chandagala Shivanna
8)Melukote= Shivalinge Gowda
Earlier, the Karnataka BJP has appointed party state chief BS Yeddyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra as the Yuva Morcha state general secretary. According to reports, BS Yeddyurappa reportedly refuses to discuss the issue of his son BY Vijayendra with party high command. Yesterday, BSY had announced that BY Vijayendra will not contest from Varuna against Dr. Yathindra.

Amidst the election heat, posters banning Congressmen have come up outside houses in Bantwal, coastal Karnataka. The posters were found outside several houses in Kanyana village asking Congress leaders to stay away.

“This is a Hindu house. Congress leaders who supported the conversion of Ganyashri through lies are not allowed here,” the posters in Kannada read. The poster also said,” even our house has a girl child.”

The issue relating to a girl called Ganyashri had created a row in this village. She is alleged to have eloped as a result of which the family faced embarrassment as her engagement was fixed. The residents of this village suspect the role of some Congress leaders. They say that the girl was converted by deceit.

Swaraj also called for identifying States that encourage and finance terrorism and provide sanctuary to terror groups.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday said that terrorism is an enemy of the basic human rights and the fight against it should also identify States that encourage, support and finance the menace and provide sanctuary to terror groups.

Swaraj, during her address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers here, raised the issue of global terrorism and protectionism.

There are a number of challenges that are being faced by the world today, foremost being the threat of global terrorism and the imminent need to build a strong security architecture to combat it, the minister said.

“Terrorism is an enemy of the basic human rights: of life, peace and prosperity,” Swaraj said.

“Protectionism in all its forms should be rejected and efforts should be made to discipline measures that constitute barriers to trade. India is committed to working with the SCO to strengthen our economic and investment ties,” she said.

We believe that economic globalization should be more open, inclusive, equitable and balanced for mutual benefits,” Swaraj added.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday was welcomed by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) ministerial meeting.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also landed in Beijing earlier on Tuesday to attend preparatory meetings with the External Affairs Minister on the sidelines of the SCO meeting.

On Monday Swaraj met China’s President Xi Jinping along with the Foreign Ministers of various other countries who had come to attend the SCO summit.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath, from May 3, will be addressing close to three dozen rallies in poll-bound Karnataka. The decision came as the party felt that Yogi’s Hindutva image, plus the Nath sect’s connect to Lingayats and the anti-caste movement initiated by Gau Rakha Peeth, will cut ice in elections. Meanwhile, the Karnataka BJP has appointed party state chief BS Yeddyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra as the Yuva Morcha state general secretary. The party, in its tweet announcing the decision, said that Vijayendra would “be campaigning extensively for candidates in the Old Mysuru region”. This pretty much means that Vijayendra will not be contesting the assembly polls this time around.

It was earlier reported that Income Tax officials raided the residence of PWD minister H C Mahadevappa. But later IT department clarified that no such raid took place.

IT department said that raids on some contractors were carried out in Bengaluru and Mysuru.

It was reported in the morning that the raid took place when the minister was at home.

Reacting to the earlier news CM Siddaramaiah had said, “I am not aware of any such news,”
Meanwhile while the rumours were spread on the IT raid, H C Mahadevappa was unaware of these developments. It is said that he was busy in his constituency.

An Indian Army soldier injured earlier on Tuesday in a shootout between militants and security personnel in Jammu and Kashmirs’ Tral forest area, has succumbed, police said.

Ajay Kuamr of 42 Rashtriya Rifles died at the Army Base Hospital here.

Kumar was injured when security forces, including the Rashtriya Rifles (RR), state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) started a joint operation against hiding militants in the Lam area in Pulwama district, a police officer said

A cordon and search operation is on in the area, he added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its fourth list of seven candidates for the May 12 elections to the 224-member Karnataka Assembly.

As per the list, finalised by the party’s Central Election Committee, G.R. Pravin Patil will contest from Bhadravati in Shivamogga district, and Kannada cine star Jaggesh from Yeshvanthapura in the Bengaluru suburbs.

The party has fielded Lallesh Reddy from B.T.M. Layout in Bengaluru South, H. Lilavathi from Ramanagaram, Nandini Gowda from Kanakapura, H.K. Suresh from Belur and J. Preetham Gow from Hassan.

Lallesh, the nephew of Ballari mining baron G. Janardhan Reddy, is pitted against Congress nominee and state Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy.

The party has till date announced candidates for 220 assembly segments and is yet to name its contestants for the remaining four seats – Varuna, Badami, Siddlaghatta and Sakleshpura.

The party had earlier released names of 213 candidates in three lists of 72 on April 8, 82 on April 16 and 59 on April 20.

Tuesday is the last date for filing of nominations. Scrutiny is on April 25 and April 27 is the last date for withdrawal of nominations.

In a related development, party’s Chief Ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa told reporters at Mysuru that his second son Vijayendra would not contest from Varuna in Mysuru district from where state Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has fielded his eldest son Yatindra this time as the Congress candidate.

“My son Vijayendra is not filing nomination from Varuna. A party worker will be fielded and will file the nomination,” said Yeddyurappa, seeking support of the party’s cadres, upset by his decision and raised slogans against party President Amit Shah.

“I wholeheartedly standby & support (the) party’s decision in all circumstances. I urge the party cadre to maintain peace & tranquility which is of foremost importance,” tweeted Vijayendra.

Siddaramaiah, who won from Varuna, which is his home constituency, twice since 2008, is contesting from Chamundeshwari in Mysuru and Badami in Vijayapura district.