10 ex-JD-S leaders join Congress
Mysuru: Ten Janata Dal Secular (JD-S) members, including seven former MLAs, on Sunday joined the ruling Congress in poll-bound Karnataka.
"Ten JD-S leaders joined Congress in the presence of the party President Rahul Gandhi," tweeted Congress' state unit president G. Parameshwara.
The leaders - B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, M.C. Nanaiah, N. Chaluvarayaswamy, R. Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy, H.C. Balakrishna, Bheema Naik, Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda, Iqbal Ansari, Sarovar Srinivas and B. Ramakrishna - joined the party during party chief Rahul Gandhi's rally here, party leaders said.
Of the 10 leaders, the seven members of the assembly had quit JD-S and tendered their resignations to Assembly Speaker K.B. Koliwad on Saturday.
The seven - Khan, Murthy, Chaluvarayaswamy, Ansari, Balakrishna, Gowda and Naik - were earlier suspended by JD-S for allegedly defying the party's whip and cross-voting for Congress during the 2016 Rajya Sabha polls.
Khan is a three-time MLA from Chamrajpet assembly constituency, Murthy represents Pulakeshinagar assembly segment in Bengaluru and Ansari, the Gangavathi constituency in Koppal district.
Balakrishna, Bandisiddegowda and Naik are respectively the MLAs from Magadi constituency in Ramanagara district, Srirangapatna constituency in Mandya district and Hagaribommanahalli constituency in Ballari district.
Nanaiah, Srinivas and Ramakrishna are the former JD-S Members of the Legislative Council.
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Karnataka new excise policy: Local liquor to get costlier, premium may get cheaper
Bengaluru: The state government on Monday rolled out a new excise policy that shifts from the decades-old bulk litre-based system to a model based on alcohol content in beverages, Deccan Herald reported.
Karnataka becomes the first state in India to adopt this model. The change is expected to make lower-priced liquor costlier, while some premium brands may see a reduction in prices.
A senior Excise Department official said: “The policy is being implemented from today (May 11). The Karnataka Excise (Excise Duty and Charges) (2nd Amendment) Rules, 2026, notified after a public consultation on a draft released on April 18, slashes the number of excise slabs from 16 to 8.”
Local liquor manufacturers have alleged that the policy favours multinational companies producing beer and spirits over domestic distilleries.
According to the Karnataka Brewers and Distillers Association (KBDA), the first five slabs, which cater to the common man, house the maximum number of state-owned distilleries and contribute nearly 70-75% of the state’s excise revenue, have seen their Additional Excise Duty (AED) rise by 20-30%.
In contrast, slabs 6 to 8, which include products from multinational companies such as United Spirits, Bacardi, Heineken, Carlsberg, and Anheuser-Busch, have seen AED reduced by 10-15%. The association said that while larger companies can absorb pricing shifts across their diverse portfolios, smaller regional distilleries limited to budget liquor may face volume contraction and potential closure.
A senior KBDA member said the price of a 180 ml bottle in the lowest slab, which was around Rs 63 last year, has already risen to Rs 80, and the new policy is set to push that price further to Rs 105 a jump driven by a 42.8% tax bracket.
