Cong fields Geetha Shivarajkumar from Shimoga, renominates D K Suresh from Bangalore Rural
Bengaluru, Mar 8: D K Suresh (Bangalore Rural) and Kannada actor Shivarajkumar's wife Geetha Shivarajkumar (Shimoga) figure in the first list of seven candidates in Karnataka announced on Friday by the Congress for the coming Lok Sabha elections.
A three-time MP, Suresh is the brother of Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar and is the sitting member from Bangalore Rural. He was the only Congress candidate to win in the 2019 general elections in the State.
The other five candidates are: H R Algur (Bijapur), Anandswamy Gaddadevarmath (Haveri), S P Muddahanumegowda (Tumkur), Venkataramane Gowda (Mandya) and Shreyas M Patel (Hassan).
The party naming Geetha Shivarajkumar for the Shivamogga seat seems to have set the stage for an interesting battle in the home district of BJP veteran B S Yediyurappa.
Geetha, daughter of former Chief Minister late S Bangarappa, contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Shivamogga (Shimoga) on a Janata Dal (Secular) ticket and lost to Yediyurappa.
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The seat is currently held by Yediyurappa's son, B Y Raghavedra.
Geetha, sister of Karnataka Minister for School Education Madhu Bangarappa and daughter-in- law of Kannada thespian late Rajkumar, joined the Congress in April last year ahead of Assembly elections in Karnataka.
Venkataramane Gowda, also known as Star Chandru, is a contractor by profession. The Mandya seat is represented by Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent backed by the BJP.
The Congress had denied renomination to Muddahanumegowda in the 2019 elections to make way for Congress-JD(S) alliance candidate H D Deve Gowda who, however, lost the polls. Muddahanumegowda officially joined the BJP in 2022 but kept a low profile. He returned to the Congress fold only last month.
"Congress has named candidates in segments where there was no confusion over the nominee," a party leader said.
The BJP-JD(S) combine is yet to come out with its list of candidates.
The BJP had swept the 2019 general elections, bagging 25 of the total 28 seats in the state, while an independent (Sumalatha Ambareesh) backed by the party had also emerged victorious.
The Congress and the JD(S), which were running a coalition government back then and fought the election together, had come a cropper winning just one seat each.
But the political scene has changed significantly since then; the Congress scored a thumping victory in the Assembly elections in May last year and now appears battle-ready, determined to put up a strong show in the Lok Sabha polls.
It is also a role reversal of sorts for JD(S) which joined the BJP-led NDA in September last year and wants to prove that it's still a force to reckon with, particularly in South Karnataka.
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Trump vows to ‘finish job’, thanks Middle East allies; urges countries to show courage, buy US oil
Says US will ‘hit Iran extremely hard’ over next 2-3 weeks, threatens power plants
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said the United States is close to achieving its objectives in Iran, while thanking key allies in the Middle East for their support.
“We are gonna finish the job. We are getting very close,” Trump said, expressing appreciation to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Bahrain. “They’ve been great and we will not let them fail in any way shape or form,” he added.
Trump claimed that US military operations against Iran have delivered major results over the past month. Referring to “Operation Epic Fury”, he said American forces had carried out “swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield”.
He said Iran’s naval and air capabilities had been severely weakened and its ability to launch missiles and drones had been significantly reduced. “Their ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces – very few of them left,” he said.
The US president also repeated his criticism of the 2015 nuclear deal signed under former President Barack Obama, claiming it would have allowed Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has consistently maintained that its nuclear programme is peaceful.
Trump said the US military campaign aims to weaken Iran’s ability to support proxy groups and prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. “Taken together, these actions will cripple Iran militarily,” he said, adding that key strategic objectives are “nearing completion”.
In a separate remark, Trump urged countries dependent on Gulf oil to take action and suggested they should rely more on American energy supplies. He called on them to show “delayed courage” and secure the Strait of Hormuz, which has been affected by the ongoing conflict.
“[They] should have done it before, should have done it with us, as we asked. Go to the strait and just take it, protect it,” he said, adding that the United States has sufficient oil resources.
The remarks come as tensions remain high in the region, with continued military exchanges and growing concerns over global energy supplies.
“We will continue until our objectives are fully achieved. Thanks to the progress, we’ve made, I can say we are on track to complete all of America’s objectives shortly, very shortly,” the US president said.
We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We are going to take them back to the stone ages where they belong,” he added.
He further added that “regime change was never our goal” but that “regime change has occurred because of their original leader’s death”.
He’s also warned Iran of strikes on power plants if no deal is agreed.
“If during this period of time, no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets. If no deal is reached we are going to hit every one of their electric generating plants very hard, and probably simultaneously,” he says.
