Karnataka chief minister, Siddaramaiah, being a seasoned politician, took time to brief his ministerial colleagues how to conduct themselves till the assembly election is held and stay clear of unwanted controversies, in view of the fact that election model code of conduct has come into force.

The cabinet meeting on Tuesday was expected to approve certain projects. In view of the announcement of the election by the commission, the meeting confined itself to just ratifying the decisions taken at the earlier meeting.

Siddaramaiah, while exuding confidence that Congress will spring back to power in Karnataka, gave some suggestions to the ministers. He told them about the necessity to be very choosy and careful when delivering speeches or issuing statements. He asked them to desist from making any controversial statements which could harm the party’s chances in the election. He also wanted issues between party leaders to be settled among themselves instead of referring them to state level leadership.

The chief minister is learnt to have told his colleagues that anti incumbency factor is not in play in Karnataka now. He asked the ministers to remain upbeat and spread awareness among the people about the people-friendly programmes of the government. He said that district in-charge ministers will have the responsibility to ensure that the party comes out victorious in as many constituencies as possible in their respective districts. He wanted revenue minister, Kagodu Thimmappa, and rural development and panchayat raj minister, H K Patil, to convene a meeting to assess about the drinking water situation in the state in view of increasing temperature and summer season.

Addressing media persons later, law and parliamentary affairs minister, T B Jayachandra, stated that several ministers discussed the issue of worsening drinking water situation in different districts. He mentioned that the issue of drinking water does not fall under the ambit of model code of conduct. He said that the meeting wanted to assess the fund needed to attend to water requirement like supply of water and digging of borewells. He added that the government has also taken up with the centre the need to grant four month extension to state chief secretary, Ratna Prabha, as she is scheduled to retire on March 31. He said that if the centre does not permit extension of her service, then alternative measures would have to be looked into.

A gunfight started on Wednesday between the security forces and militants in Sunderbani area in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, official said.

“Following suspicious movements in Sunderbani area on Wednesday morning, a search operation was launched by the security forces,” police said.

“As the security forces closed in on the hiding militants, they fired at the security forces triggering an encounter which is underway,” a police officer said.

Police also said suspicious movements were first noticed by the sentry of a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) battalion headquarters in the area who fired in the air after which army, CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police started a search operation during which the hiding militants were spotted, police said.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a plea seeking fresh investigation into the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

The bench of Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice L. Nageswara Rao dismissed the plea by Pankaj Phadnis, who had sought re-investigation of the assassination on the basis of fresh material which he said was not available earlier.

The amicus curiae Amarinder Sharan, who had examined the material brought by Phadnis, too did not favour any re-investigation into the killing of Mahatma Gandhi.

Senior counsel Sharan was appointed amicus curiae by the court and was asked to examine the material produced by the petitioner Phadnis and give his opinion.

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday met leaders from the BJP ally Shiv Sena as well as MPs from several opposition parties in the national capital.

Banerjee visited Parliament on Tuesday where she met Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar. She also met Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MP K. Kavitha, daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

The details of the meetings, which come at a time when opposition parties as well as former government ally Telugu Desam party (TDP), have come together to move a no confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, was not shared.

Banerjee is seen as a key player in a possible grouping of non-BJP political parties ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday recommended a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the death of a Bhind-based television channel journalist who was run over by a truck.

Sandeep Sharma, who exposed the illegal sand mining in the area through a sting operation, on Monday was killed while he was going on his two-wheeler.

“While analysing the law and order situation, Chouhan expressed grief over the death of the journalist. He said to reveal the truth, the CBI will probe the matter,” an official said. 

The truck driver, Ranveer, was arrested and the truck seized. 

Bhind Superintendent of Police Prashant Khare on Monday announced that a special investigation team will be set up to probe the matter.

It is believed that Sharma was killed as he exposed the connection between sand mafia and the police. Sharma, on several occasions, sought police protection and had written letters to the Chief Minister, the Governor and even the Prime Minister. 

Following the two-day visit to Karnataka BJP president Amit Shah in his address misspoke today and said that “if there were ever a competition for the most corrupt government then the (BJP’s) Yeddyurappa government would come first”.

(AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

Shah wasn’t poking fun, but he didn’t mean to utter that either about BS Yeddyurappa (BSY), who is the BJP’s candidate for chief minister in the Karnataka Assembly elections. The BJP president simply told its ministerial candidate is corrupt.

Shah said this at a press conference which was held in Bengaluru, BSY – who was earlier CM of Karnataka – and sitting to Shah’s right, leaned over to him, probably to correct him. Then Shah made corrections what he said – that he meant “Siddaramaiah would come first in a competition for the most corrupt government” – but the smash up had occurred.

The Congress couldn’t pass up this opportunity to denounce Shah and it had a field day doing so.

“Who knew Amit Shah could also speak the truth- we all concur with you Amit ji BSY-BJP is the most corrupt!” tweeted Divya Spandana of the Karnataka unit member of the Congress party.

Spandana said in another tweet that this wasn’t the first time Shah misspoke about BSY.

“This isn’t the first time btw- what exactly are Amit Shah’s feelings towards Yeddyurappa? All are not good in the hood,” she said in the tweet with attaching clip of another time when Shah misspoke.

Congress and the JD(S) has escalated it’s war of words, with JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Monday propelling an direct assault on Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Gowda took serious special case to Rahul scrutinizing the JD(S)’ accreditations recently without having any comprehension of the political advancements of the past. Speaking to the reporters Gowda said that Rahul was naive and lacked maturity.

Forewarning Rahul to be “careful,” Gowda asked the Congress leader not to test his patience, that he would no more tolerate his “irresponsible” statements. He tore into Rahul for his reliance on a “chit” for assaulting the JD(S).

“Rahul has charged that JD(S) is BJP’s ‘B’ group – he has compared at JD(S) to the Sangh Parivar. He has even asked the JD(S) to tell the truth on its common certifications – whether my gathering is supporting the BJP. You want to question my accreditations young man, when you are not by any means aware of the occasions of the past? You have to first comprehend which Congress is there in Karnataka – Indira Gandhi Congress, Sonia Gandhi Congress or Siddaramaiah Congress. You will understand the differences only if you have maturity. You won’t make allegations against the JD(S) by perusing out talks, composed by another person, from a chit of paper,” he said.

Naming the Congress as an opportunist party, Gowda said he had confronted disloyalty by it. He said that he had endorsed Sonia Gandhi to the Prime Minister’s post when the opposition had marked her as an outsider.

“The minimum she could do was to be appreciative to me. Instead, her party ungraciously pulled back help when I was the Prime Minister. For what reason did they pull back help? I had no corruption accusations against me – not at all like Siddaramaiah, who is confronting a whirlwind of corruption allegations,” he said.

He said that the JD(S) would not forge ties with either the BJP or the Congress.

Former minister and jds MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan today Officially Joined Congress in the Supervision of AICC President Shri Rahul Gandhi Ji, AICC General Secretary Shri K C Venugopal ji, Chief Minister of Karnataka Shri Siddaramiah Ji, KPCC President and Former Home Minister Dr G Parmeshwar ji, M.P Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji at Maharaja Ground in Mysore

Along with Energy Minister of Karnataka Shri D K Shivkumar, Ex Minister M C Nanaiah, Ex MLA Shri N Cheluvaraya Swamy, Ex MLA Shri H.C Balakrishna, Ex MLA Shri R Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, Ex MLA Shri Bheema Naik, Ex MLA Shri Iqbal Ansari, Ex MLA Shri Ramesh Babu Bandisidde Gowda, Shri B.Z Zaid Khan, Ex Minority President Dr Shakeel Nawaz, Leader Shri Venkatesh,