Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah has slammed BJP National President JP Nadda for asking the people of Karnataka during a rally to vote for BJP ‘so that the state is not deprived of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blessings’, saying that Modi was not God to bless anyone.

In view of upcoming festivals like Eid and Akshay Tritiya, the Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday issued directions regarding holding programmes in the state and ordered that no religious event be held by obstructing roads and traffic.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi would campaign in about 20 places in poll-bound Karnataka, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Thursday. He said the Prime Minister's campaign programme is being finalised.

Lingayat leaders of the BJP have raised the pitch for unleashing the "Lingayat CM" campaign in poll-bound Karnataka to counter the Congress' narrative to brand the ruling party as "anti-Lingayat".

Former MLA Mohiuddin Bawa, who was an aspirant for the Mangalore City North constituency ticket, has decided to join the Janata Dal (Secular) [JDS] after being denied the ticket by the Congress party.

The Union government appears to be taking steps towards fulfilling its poll commitment of implementing a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country, with the Lok Sabha elections just a year away. Sources have revealed that Union Home Minister Amit Shah presided over a high-level meeting on Monday, where he expressed his eagerness to introduce the UCC bill during the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament in July.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said lawyers cannot go on strike or abstain from work and directed all high courts to constitute grievance redressal committee at the state level headed by the chief justice, where advocates could make representations for redressal of "genuine problems".

A court in Gujarat's Surat city on Thursday rejected Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's application for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his "Modi surname" remark.