Top Section
Explore Business Standard
Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.
Karnataka Assembly
Ending all speculations, senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Monday announced that he will be contesting the forthcoming Karnataka Assembly polls from Kolar constituency. The 75-year-old former chief minister, who was looking for a "safe seat", had been giving indications about choosing Kolar for some time now, by holding a series of meetings with party leaders from the district. "I have decided to be a candidate for the next election from Kolar," Siddaramaiah said at a public meeting here amid loud cheers from the crowd. "I have decided to contest from this constituency, but it is subject to approval from the high command," he said. Congress leaders and workers from Kolar have been exerting pressure on the Congress Legislature Party leader to contest from there. Siddaramaiah had received similar requests from Varuna, Badami, Hebbal, Koppal and Chamrajpet segments among others. The Congress Legislature Party Leader's earlier visit to Kolar in November and his cryptic statement
The Karnataka Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a Bill enhancing reservation for SC/STs in government educational institutions and State government services. The Bill proposes to increase the quota for the Scheduled Castes from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and for Scheduled Tribes from three per cent to seven per cent. The Bill aims to replace the ordinance passed by the government in October this year. Welcoming the Bill, the Opposition said the new reservation policy would not benefit the targeted people as government jobs have been curtailed due to privatisation. The Opposition said the government should make provision for reservation in the private sector too.
Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's life size portrait was unveiled inside the Assembly chamber at the 'Suvarna Vidhana Soudha' here, along with several national icons, drawing criticism from opposition Congress, which alleged that it was a unilateral decision, keeping them in the dark. The portraits of Swami Vivekananda, Subash Chandra Bose, B R Ambedkar, Basaveshwara, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and Savarkar were unveiled by Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, inside the Assembly chamber, just before the commencement of the 10-day winter session of the state legislature in this border district. Earlier, Congress led by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah and party's state President D K Shivakumar staged a demonstration outside 'Suvarna Vidhana Soudha' holding pictures of several national and state icons like Kuvempu, Narayana Guru, Shishunala Sharif, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Babu Jagjivan Ram among ..
Asserting that Hindi is not India's national language, former Karnataka chief minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Friday accused the ruling BJP of trying to unleash its agenda of "cultural terrorism" against non-Hindi speaking states. Taking offence to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's comment regarding the official language, the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka assembly accused him of betraying the former's home state Gujarat and mother-tongue Gujarati for Hindi, for his political agenda. Shah on Thursday said Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English and not to local languages. Presiding over the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee, Shah had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided that the medium of running the government is the official language and this will definitely increase the importance of Hindi. "As a Kannadiga, I take strong offence to @HMOIndia @AmitShah's comment on Official language & medium of ...
The contentious "Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021", popularly known as "Anti-conversion Bill", was passed by Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Thursday, amidst din. Congress partly vehemently opposed the bill, calling it "anti people", "inhuman", "anti constitutional", "anti poor" and "draconian", and urged that it should not be passed for any reason and should be withdrawn by the government. JD(S) too expressed its opposition to the bill, which was introduced in the Assembly on Tuesday. The bill was passed by a voice vote, even as Congress members were protesting from the well of the House, demanding continuation of the debate on the bill, that began this morning. They were also expressing their anguish against some remarks made by Minister K S Eshwarappa, during his intervention in the debate. Congress seemed to be on a back foot with the ruling BJP alleging that the bill was actually "initiated" by the Siddaramaiah led Congress administration, and