Congress names Kharge as candidate for RS polls from Karnataka
Bengaluru: The Congress on Friday announced veteran party leader Mallikarjun Kharge as its candidate for the June 19 elections to the four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka.
"Congress President Sonia Gandhi has approved the candidature of Shri Mallikarjun Kharge as Congress candidate for the ensuing biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka," All India Congress Committee said in a release.
The four seats represented by Rajeev Gowda and B K Hariprasad of Congress, Prabhakar Kore of BJP and D Kupendra Reddy of JD(S) will fall vacant on June 25 with their retirement.
June 9 is the last date for filing nominations.
The Congress, with 68 MLAs in the assembly, can win one of the four seats easily on its own, so Kharge's victory is said to be certain.
Kharge, who was popularly known as "solillada Saradara", (a leader without defeat) faced his first electoral loss in his political life spanning several decades against BJP's Umesh Jadhav in Gulbarga by a margin of 95,452 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
A nine-time MLA and two-term Lok Sabha member, he had served as Congress' floor leader in the previous Lok Sabha, and also as Union Railway and Labour Minister in the UPA government.
Kharge (77), had also been a Minister in several Congress governments in the state in the past and had also served as KPCC President and Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly.
His son Priyank Kharge is currently MLA representing Chittapur constituency and had served as a Minister during the previous Congress and coalition governments.
While ruling BJP with 117 members (including Speaker), can ensure victory in two seats, the JD(S), with just 34 seats in the assembly, is not in a position to win a seat in Rajya Sabha on its own, as a minimum of 44 votes is required for a candidate to win.
Speculations are rife that Congress is likely to support JD(S) with its surplus votes for the remaining one seat if the regional party fields its supremo and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, and in return may seek favor during the legislative council polls slated later this month.
No final decision has been taken in this regard yet, party sources said.
JD(S) is holding its legislative party meeting today to decide on the strategy for RS polls and decide on a candidate.
The BJP too, with several aspirants, is yet to finalise its candidate for the RS polls.
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New York, Apr 30 (PTI): New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he would encourage King Charles III to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond.
“If I was to speak to the King separately from that, I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond,” Mamdani said at a press conference Wednesday before he met the British monarch in the city later in the day. Mamdani was asked what he would say to the King, who visited New York City on the second day of his State Visit to the US.
King Charles addressed a joint meeting of the US Congress Tuesday, as he and Queen Camilla were honoured at a state dinner hosted by President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump in the White House.
King Charles and Queen Camilla visited the 9/11 Memorial in the city and paid their respects to the victims of the terror attack.
They also visited Harlem Grown, a network of urban farms supporting children and families in Upper Manhattan.
Mamdani met King Charles at the 9/11 memorial. The 105.6-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond was given to Queen Victoria in 1849 by Maharajah Duleep Singh. It was worn by the Queen Mother on her crown in 1937.
India has indicated that it will continue to explore ways to bring back the Koh-i-noor from the United Kingdom.
The country has been raising the matter from time to time with the UK government and said it will continue to explore ways and means for obtaining a “satisfactory resolution of the matter.”
The Koh-i-Noor diamond is currently displayed at the Tower of London. The diamond, set within the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, has "many previous owners, including Mughal Emperors, Shahs of Iran, Emirs of Afghanistan, and Sikh Maharajas,” according to the Historic Royal Palaces charity.
The 34-year-old Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani.
He is the first Muslim, the first Indian-origin, the first born in Africa, and the youngest one in more than a century to become New York Mayor.
