Congress release its final list, read the details here
Bengaluru: The Congress released its final list of five candidates for the Karnataka assembly polls and there are notable inclusions as well as exclusions in it.
While NA Haris, whose candidature was earlier in doubt over an assault case against his son, has been fielded from Shanthi Nagar again, HS Chandramouli has been dropped after the controversy over his legal services to PNB scam accused Mehul Choksi.
In all, the party has replaced six candidates in its final list.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will replace Dr Devraj Patil in Badami constituency in North Karnataka, according to the updated list. Siddaramaiah is in the fray from the Chamundeshwari segment in Mysuru as well.
The party had ended the suspense over whether he would contest from two seats on Saturday night after a day of flip-flop. Siddaramaiah has been maintaining that his desire was to contest from Chamundeshwari in Mysuru but he was under pressure from local party leaders to be in the fray from Badami, as it would boost the Congress' prospects in north Karnataka.
The party has replaced its candidates in Jagalur (reserved for Scheduled Tribes candidate), Tiptur, Malleshwaram, Padmanaba Nagar and Madikeri.
In Madikeri, KP Chandrakala will contest the election in the place of Chandramouli.
The BJP has been attacking the Congress over Mouli's candidature, citing he had represented fugitive diamond trader Mehul Choksi. The saffron party had also alleged that the tainted businessman enjoyed the "patronage" of Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
The fate of another controversial pick, NA Harris, was also decided. He was re-nominated from Shanthinagara Assembly seat in Bengaluru, weeks after the party had put his ticket on hold over the assault allegations against his son Mohammad Nalapad.
The state Congress had earlier decided against giving him the ticket after his son generated negative publicity with the alleged assault on a youth at a high-end pub in Bengaluru two months ago. The party had felt that fielding him could cost them other seats in Bengaluru urban, which is a crucial segment.
However, after scouting for a suitable candidate who could replace Haris, the ruling Congress seems to have fallen back on the two-time MLA to again win the Muslim, Christian and Dalit-dominated Assembly seat in Bengaluru.
The Congress has fielded Dr B Inamdar, Vithal Dhondiba Katakdhond, Mallanna Niganna Sali and Syed Yasin from Kittur, Nagthan (reserved for scheduled castes), Sindgi and Raichur respectively.
The party has not declared a candidate for the Melkote segment, where it is likely to support Darshan Puttanaiah, who will fight the election on a ticket from Swaraj India.
The party had declared its first list of 218 candidates for the election to 224-seat assembly on April 15. The election is slated on May 12 and the poll results will be announced on May 15.
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None of Adani portfolio companies subject to any legal case: Group CFO on promoter indictment in US
New Delhi, Nov 23: None of Adani group portfolio companies, comprising 11 listed firms, have been accused of any wrongdoing, conglomerate's CFO Jugeshinder Robbie Singh said on founder and chairman Gautam Adani's indictment on bribery charges in the US.
In a post on X, Singh said the group would make a detailed comment on the US indictment once it gets counsel approvals.
Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, allegedly agreed to pay about USD 265 million in bribes to Indian government officials between approximately 2020 and 2024 to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts on terms that were expected to yield USD 2 billion of profit over 20 years, according to an indictment unsealed in a New York court on Wednesday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the US has also charged Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd and Cyril Cabanes, an executive of Azure Power Global, for "conduct arising out of a massive bribery scheme".
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing," Singh said.
He hastened to add that no court has ruled on the indictment, and as outlined by lawyers of the US Department of Justice, these are "allegations and the accused have a presumption of innocence".
The CFO, who was the first line of defence when US short-seller Hindenburg Research had accused the ports-to-power conglomerate of fraud in January 2023, said the group became aware of the "specificity" of the US indictment against founder and chairman Gautam Adani two days ago.
"We were aware that something is afoot (and in February 2024 144a offering circular in Risk Factors we disclosed as such. This was the first public issuance of any of our portfolio companies or their subsidiaries or joint venture companies after our annual results of 31st March 2023)," he said.
He, however, did not state what the company had disclosed in February 2024.
Adani Group, he said, has a portfolio of 11 public companies and "none are subject to indictment (i.e. defendants in any legal proceedings in the recent DOJ lawyer filings to a court in NYC)".
"None of the issuers (i.e. companies in our portfolio or specific issuers that are subsidiaries of the public companies) are accused of any wrongdoing in the said legal filing," he said.
The indictment "relates to one contract of Adani Green, which is roughly 10 per cent of overall business of Adani Green (there is a lot more precise and comprehensive detail of this which we will elaborate in an appropriate forum)," he said.
The statement comes two days after Gautam Adani was charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay USD 265 million (about RS 2,200 crore) bribes to Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts. The conglomerate has denied the allegations, calling them baseless, and announced plans to seek legal recourse.
The Adani Family has 11 listed entities on the Indian stock exchanges - flagship incubator Adani Enterprises Ltd, electricity producer Adani Power Ltd, ports company Adani Ports & SEZ, power transmission firm Adani Energy Solutions Limited, renewable arm Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), city gas distributor Adani Total Gas Ltd, commodities firm Adani Wilmar Ltd, media firm New Delhi Television Ltd and cement companies Ambuja Cements Limited, ACC Ltd, and Sanghi Industries Ltd.
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing (Please note that no court has ruled on this and as outlined by lawyers of DOJ these are 'allegations and accused have a presumption of innocence'). We will make a more detailed comment once we get counsel approvals to discuss what we can in public on a matter that is sub-judice," he added.
