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New Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Congress names four nominees for legislative council; eyes Lakhan Jarkiholi's crucial vote
BENGALURU: The Congress has announced the party's four nominees for the State Legislative Council. They are: Dinesh Amin Mattu, media advisor to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah; Arathi Krishna, deputy chairperson, Karnataka NRI Forum; Ramesh Babu, chairman, the party media cell; and Sagar, Dalit leader. The names were cleared by the party high command. They would be sworn-in after getting the assent of governor. With their swearing-in, Congress will have 37 members in the 75-member House, the same as the BJP-JDS combine. All eyes are now on the independent, Lakhan Jarkiholi, brother of minister Satish Jarkiholi. Lakhan's vote could shatter or solidify the balance of power in the House. If the Congress wins him over, the party will seize both the chairman and deputy chairman posts, currently held by the BJP. It was Lakhan's brother, Ramesh Jarkiholi, who toppled the Congress coalition by defecting to the BJP. Ramesh might yet convince Lakhan to back the BJP-JDS alliance, ensuring status quo. There has been a precedent of having a person from another party as chairman of the Upper House. When Ramakrishna Hegde was the CM, Congress member Rehman Khan was chairman for about two years. If the Congress does get Lakhan's vote, the question is who will become chairman and deputy chairman. Veteran BK Hariprasad was once seen as a frontrunner. Now he has been elevated as the party general secretary for Haryana. There is no clarity on what his next role could be. Minister Bose Raju, Chief Whip Saleem Ahmed and former minister Nasir Ahmed could emerge as choices, as sources say the party would assign roles according to its priorities.
New Indian Express
09-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Take AHINDA members, poor along, they have supported Congress: Karnataka CM
MYSURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said the people of Mandya have stood by his leadership for decades, and advised district in-charge minister N Chaluvarayaswamy and others to take members of the AHINDA community and the poor along, since they have supported the Grand Old Party. Disputing the JDS' claims that it has contributed to the development of Mandya, Siddaramaiah said it was he who sanctioned a medical college and agriculture university for the district, and also released sufficient funds for the Mysugar factory. Without naming Union minister HD Kumaraswamy, Siddaramaiah said the medical college was sanctioned during the tenure of N Dharam Singh as chief minister. Speaking after laying the foundation for the DCC bank head office and Kuruba Sangha hostel, and unveiling a statue of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, he said the government gave Rs 50 crore assistance to the Mysugar factory and waived off power bills. He said the state produced 148 lakh metric tonnes of food grains during the previous years, and received copious rain, despite the BJP-JDS claiming that Karnataka is always affected by drought under Siddaramaiah's rule. Hitting out at the BJP for saying that the state would go bankrupt after implementing the guarantee schemes, Siddaramaiah said they have earmarked Rs 1.35 lakh crore for the development works and charged that the BJP is against social sector programmes, and not in favour of farmers, the poor, women, Dalits, minorities, and backward communities. Lauding the people of Mandya for contributing to food production, he said that the government has spent enough on irrigation projects and developments in all the taluks. Separately, the chief minister said he has sanctioned Rs 2 crore for the Kuruba community hostel and assured funds to construct facilities for more than a hundred students from the backward communities.
