Bangalore

BS Yeddyurappa, Former Karnataka Chief Minister is contesting the Lok Sabha Election from Shimoga constituency for the first time, on Thursday said that his party BJP will win at least 15 seats in this southern state.

After casting vote today, the Lingayat strongman said, “We are getting minimum of 15 Lok Sabha seats here but the party is aiming for 20 seats.” BSY, as he is popularly known, also trashed the news that all is not well for BJP here as a pro-Congress mood prevails here.

Voting began early Thursday on a brisk note in hundreds of polling booths in all the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies across Karnataka.
“According to initial reports from across the state, voting began at 7 a.m. on a peaceful note and is progressing well amid tight security in 54,261 polling booths,” senior polling official V. Ponnuraju told IANS here.

“About 10-12 percent voting was registered in the first 90 minutes,” Ponnuraju added.Long queues were seen at several booths across Bangalore and other cities and towns in the state even before the polling was scheduled to begin.

Of all the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies going to the polls Thursday across Karnataka, 10 seats are in spotlight for their high-profile candidates, including Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, and the high octane campaign they unleashed to woo voters.

For apolitical reasons, Bangalore South is the cynosure, as the Congress has fielded technocrat Nandan Nilekani, the country’s uber rich with personal wealth of whopping Rs.7,710 crore, to log out BJP’s five-time winner N.H. Ananth Kumar, who is sweating it out to retain the seat.

Single-phase polling for 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka began this morning to decide the fortunes of 435 candidates in a close fight between the ruling Congress and BJP.

Nearly 85,000 security personnel drawn from the state and central forces have been deployed across the state for free and fair polls, officials said. Armed police force from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are also on duty.

About 4.62 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.

Of the 54,000 odd polling stations, 11,424 have been declared hypersensitive and 14,968 sensitive, officials said.

Ruling Congress in Karnataka today requested the Election Commission to take stern steps to ensure that all private industrial establishments and business centres declare holiday tomorrow in view of the Lok Sabha polls in the state.

A party delegation led by Energy Minister D K Shivakumar met state Chief Electoral Officer Anil Kumar Jha and submitted a letter stating that many industrial establishments situated in and around Bangalore have not yet declared holiday and are forcing their employees to attend to work.

A large number of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses will be utilised for election duty. About 1000 BMTC buses and 800 KSRTC buses will be at the disposal of the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, on April 16 and 17.

With the polling day, falling between an extended weekend, a large number of people who have made travel plans in advance, within and outside the City, are expected to face commuting problems due to shortage of buses.

On Tuesday, two persons were killed in separate accidents in the City after they were hit by speeding trains.

An unidentified person, aged between 35 and 40 year, was killed after he was hit by a running train when crossing the road near Kumara Krupa Park between Cantonment and City railway stations.

In another accident, an unidentified person aged between 25 and 30 years was killed near Kadapaswamy Temple between Bangalore City and Nayandahalli stations, when a train ran him over while he was crossing the railway tracks.

It is not only senior executives who have left or are leaving India’s iconic software firm Infosys, but also its young techies in droves.

The return of co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy from retirement as executive chairman June 1, 2013 notwithstanding, a whopping 36,268 software engineers at medium and lateral levels left the IT bellwether during the last 12 months.

Karnataka will go to the polls tomorrow in a single phase with the battlelines clearly delineated for a bipolar contest between the ruling Congress and BJP in all but six of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies.

Both principal players see tidings in their favour.After a heartbreak defeat in the May Assembly polls last year, BJP is gung ho about a comeback, while the Congress is portraying a picture of confidence of bagging 20 seats.

At least six passengers were burnt to death and a dozen injured early Wednesday when the private-run bus in which they were travelling caught fire in Karnataka, an official said.

The accident took place in Hiriyur (town) in Chitradurga district, about 160 km from here.

“The tragedy occurred around 3 a.m. when the bus from Davangere to Bangalore caught fire and fell into a ditch on the side of national highway four (NH 4),” Chitradurga Superintendent of Police Ravi Kumar told IANS.

Of the injured, five are in a critical condition with severe burns and have been admitted to hospitals.

A staggering 46 million voters will elect 28 lawmakers when Karnataka votes Thursday in the sixth phase of the general election and the BJP is betting big on its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to do well.

The political fortunes of 434 candidates, including 195 independents and 21 women, in 28 parliamentary constituencies, with five reserved for Dalits (SCs) and two for tribals (STs), will be decided.

India-born poet Vijay Seshadri has won the prestigious 2014 Pulitzer Prize in the poetry category for his collection of poems “3 Sections.”

The 98th annual Pulitzer Prizes in Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music were announced yesterday by Columbia University here.

Seshadri’s ‘3 Sections’ is a “compelling collection of poems that examine human consciousness, from birth to dementia, in a voice that is by turns witty and grave, compassionate and remorseless,” the announcement said.

It is a gentleman’s contest in Bangalore North Lok Sabha constituency where the Congress and BJP candidates are locked in an equally poised fight.

The “ever-smiling” D V Sadananda Gowda, a former Chief Minister, and C Narayanaswamy, known as gentlemen and sober politicians, are slugging it out in what both consider as a “safe seat” for them in a “decent” fight.

Narayanaswamy, who has risen from the grassroot politics, was chosen the Congress candidate after winning the primaries, reportedly with the solid backing of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

The AAP, which shot to national fame after an impressive showing in the Delhi assembly elections, is racing against time to woo voters with a “low-cost but high-impact campaign” for the Lok Sabha election in Karnataka where polling is due Thursday.

Getting candidates to contest in the state’s 28 constituencies was not as much a problem for the party as it has been to sustain the campaign, with a volunteer-based outfit short of funds unlike rival parties.

HKBK degree college, celebrated its 15th Annual College Day known as “PROTIUS-2014″ here at Chowdiah Memorial Hall on April 7.

Taking exception to the claims of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi that all the development in the state was the result of his better administration, Union Minister for Minority Affairs, K. Rahman Khan has said that it was the Congress that laid the foundation for all the development in Gujarat.

Accusing the Mysore-Kodagu candidate of BJP Pratap Simha of hurting the sentiments of Muslims by depicting Tipu Sultan as a poor-spirited persona, the members of National Congress Brigade have asked Simha to withdraw his “controversial” book ‘Is Tipu Sultan Freedom Fighrter?’, immediately and apologies to the Muslims.

Simha has manipulated the historical facts and deceived people of other religion about the achievements and contributions of Tipu Sultan to the country, Abdul Jaffer, a member said while addressing the pressmen here on April 10.

The man who steered a mammoth programme to give a billion Indians an identity card is battling heavy odds in his bid to reinvent himself with his political foray as he faces a high-octane contest for the Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat in the April 17 polls.
Billionaire Infosys co-founder and face of UPA’s marquee programme “Aadhar” Nandan Nilekani has turned what was initially perceived to be a “heavyweight versus newbie” fight into a hot contest too close to call.

In this backward northern region of Karnataka, the Congress is hopeful of bucking the anti-incumbency trend haunting its UPA government by riding on the fortunes of Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge, contesting again from this reserved (SC) constituency in the April 17 Lok Sabha elections.

As the largest and bustling district in the Deccan region, about 650 km from Bangalore, Gulbarga has been the ruling party’s bastion for decades barring two terms in the 1990s when it lost to the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) in the 1996 general elections and to the BJP in the 1998 snap polls.

The management-employees standoff over lockout at Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s two plants at Bidadi near here is persisting as renewed talks between them failed to reach any consensus today.

“Deliberations are still on. We have called a meeting again on Tuesday. Hopefully, we may reach some settlement that day,” Additional Labour Commissioner J T Jinkalappa told PTI.

In response to a question, he said: “Suspension of 30 workers is the sticking issue. I’m hopeful that we will be able to reach some consensus on it.”

Ahmed Khan, senior journalist and vice president of Karnataka Urdu Reporters Forum has appealed to the Muslim community to cast their votes in great number infavour of secular candidates to defeat the communal forces.

He says “after independence this is most crucial election. The divisive and communal forces guided by RSS are trying hard to garner the support of voters to capture the power.”

An ecstatic applause filled the Town Hall, when baby Zoha recited first ruku of Quranic chapter Surah Rahman. It was the annual day celebration of Brainy Stars International Islamic Montessori , held on March 25.

The performances of tiny-tots aged between 3 to 4 years, mesmerized the audience. They showed memorization skill by reciting Surah Fatiha, Ayatal kursi, Surah Nas, Surah Falaq and a few rhymes. A group of twelve students sang the twelve months of Hijra Calender.

Central Muslim Association (CMA) has appealed Muslim voters to exercise their franchise in big number.

In a joint statement, Alhaj Maqbool Ahmed, president and Dr. Zaheeruddin Ahmed, general secretary of CMA have emphasized that this election is important in various ways. “The community’s votes play vital role. Every one of us should feel responsibility and cast vote at earliest. We should encourage and educate women in this regard” they said.Courtesy:karnataka Muslims

http://karnatakamuslims.com/portal/cma-appeals-to-muslim-voters/

Karnataka Muslim Muttahida Mahaz has appealed to the community in particular and general masses to vote in favour of those candidates who can promote democracy and secularism and contain increasing communal tendencies in the country.

The Mahaz would be identifying the candidates on April 11, who can defeat the communal forces in the state. These candidates could be from various secular parties, Mahaz convenor said.

The list of candidates will be uploaded on www.karntakamuslims.com.Courtesy:Karnataka Muslims

http://karnatakamuslims.com/portal/mahaz-appeals-to-elect-secular-candidates/

The glory of Bidar really waned with the decline of Bahmani and Baridi dynasty. The kings kept up its beauty during their chequered rule.

Deputy Commissioner, P.C. Jaffer said that the district administration was seeking the partnership of various agencies to protect monuments and promote tourism. Subir Hari Singh, chief advisor, Indian Heritage Cities Network, Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh, Zilla Panchayat chief executive officer, Sunil Panwar, deputy conservator of forests were present.