Bengaluru, April 22: Releasing the final list of candidates for the May 12 Karnataka Assembly elections, the ruling Congress on Sunday announced a change of candidates in six seats and selected nominees for five other seats.
"The central election committee has changed the nominees in six seats and selected candidates for five other seats," Congress General Secretary Mukul Wasnik said in a statement here.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will contest from Badami in Vijayapura district in place of Devraj Patil in addition to Chamundeshwari in Mysuru.
H.P. Rajesh will contest from Jagalur (Reserved-Scheduled Tribe) in Davanagere district instead of A.L. Pushpa; K. Shadakshari from Tiptur in Tumakuru in place of B. Nanjaman; K.S. Renu from Malleshwaram in Bengaluru northwest instead of K.S. Renu; M. Srinivas from Padmanabhanagar in Bengaluru southwest in place of B.G. Naidu; and K.P. Chandrakala from Madikeri in Kodagu instead of H.S. Chandra Mouli.
The candidates for five other seats are N.H. Harris from Shantinagar in Bengaluru; K. Inamdar from Kittur in Belagavi district; V.D. Katakdhond from Nagathan (SC); M.N. Sali from Sindgi in Vijayapura; and Sayed Yasin from Raichur in the state's northwest region.
The Congress first list with 218 names was released on April 15 for elections to the 225-member house, including one nominated.
The party has decided not to field candidate from Melukote in Mandya district in support of Swaraj India candidate Darshan Puttanaiah, son of the state's farmer leader late K.S. Puttanaiah, who was a legislator from the same seat.
The party replaced Madikeri nominee Chandra Mouli as he was lawyer to the fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi, who fled the country in January after allegedly defrauding state-run Punjab National Bank along with his nephew Nirav Modi.
Yasin is the son-in-law of veteran party leader and former Railway Minister Jaffer Sharief.
Inamdar has been re-nominated from Kittur after he threatened to quit the party.
Harris, a two-time legislator from the prestigious Shantinagar segment in the city centre, also got re-nominated despite his son (Mohammad Nalapad) being in jail over a brawl at a city cafe on February 17.
Siddaramaiah, 69, filed his nomination on Friday from Chamundeshwari, which he has contested seven times and won five times since 1983.
Though he had won from Varuna in Mysuru district twice since the 2008 assembly elections, he shifted to Chamundeshwari, paving the way for his son Yatindra to contest from his home constituency. Yatindra too filed his nomination from Varuna on Friday.
Siddaramaiah is the party's second Chief Minister to complete a 5-year term after Devaraj Urs did so from 1972-78 in the southern state.
The veteran state leader joined the Congress from the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) in August 2006 after parting ways with the latter's supremo H.D. Deve Gowda and his second son H.D. Kumaraswamy, who is also contesting from Ramanagara and Channapatna seats in Ramanagara district, about 50km from Bengaluru.
Polling will be held in a single phase for 224 Assembly seats, including 36 reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes. Votes will be counted on May 15.
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Karnataka Assembly passes bill on Palace Grounds amid opposition protest
Bengaluru, Mar 6 (PTI): The Karnataka Assembly on Thursday passed the Bangalore Palace (Utilisation and Regulation of Land) Bill, reaffirming state ownership over 472 acres and 16 guntas of land here, amid protests by the opposition BJP.
During the discussion, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the state government would have to provide Rs 200 crore worth of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) for each acre of land, which means that for 15 acres, Rs 3,000 crore worth of TDR would be issued.
“If we accept it, then this 2-km stretch of road will become the costliest road in the world. If we accept it then how are we going to develop the city in later stages? How will you carry out development works?” asked Patil.
He also pointed out that this question was raised not only under the Congress government but also during the previous BJP regime.
However, the BJP-led cabinet has opposed the project.
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“Suppose we agree to it then, what will be the valuation of the 472 acres? It will be lakhs and lakhs of crores of rupees. Can we accept?” Patil wondered.
The Minister said the government had previously exercised its executive powers to issue an ordinance, which was approved by the Governor. Now the government is bringing a bill with two amendments.
“In this bill, we have made provisions either to develop or drop the road development work,” Patil explained.
However, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra and BJP MLA Arvind Bellad opposed the move, alleging that the government was targetting Yaduveer Krishna Datta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the scion of the Mysuru royal family, and the BJP MP from Mysuru-Kodagu constituency out of political vendetta.
“We talk of 472 acres of Mysuru Maharaja but here there are many Maharajas who too own 400 acres, 500 acres and thousands of acres of land, which is known to everyone,” Bellad said.
He slammed the Congress government, saying political power should not be misused for personal vendetta.
“Why (the then Deputy Chief Minister) Siddaramaiah brought the law in 1996 pertaining to the Bangalore Palace? Why are you setting eyes on the Bangalore Palace?” he asked.
Vijayendra charged that Wadiyar won the election on BJP ticket so the state government realised that it should acquire it.
“This bill has been brought for political vengeance. We are not discussing whether Rs 3,000 crore is exorbitant or not but the moment Yaduveer became MP, the state government woke up. You should be ashamed. This house should not be used for political vendetta,” he said.
Intervening, Minister Priyank Kharge said Vijayendra should not have raised it because the intention behind building the road was noble.
According to him, the BJP too had the same plan when it was in power.
He sought to know whether thousands of crores of rupees be spent on a road which should have cost significantly less.
In response, BJP MLA B A Basavaraj (Byrathi) said issuing TDR will not be a burden on the state government and appealed to the ruling Congress to reconsider its stance.
Minister Ramalinga Reddy too explained that the Karnataka government acquired the entire land way back in 1996.
The Mysuru royal family went to the High Court, which gave ruling in favour of the state government. The royal family then approached the Supreme Court, where the case is still going on, the Minister pointed out.
“The final judgment is pending in the SC to decide whether the acquisition was right or wrong. If the SC says it’s the royal family’s property then let it be so. If the order is in the state government’s favour then we can take a decision. The bill is only about it,” Reddy explained.
Speaker U T Khader then called for a voice vote and the bill was passed by the Assembly amidst opposition BJP’s discontent.
