Congress' candidates for about 60 seats in Karnataka unsuitable, party will lose badly: CM Bommai
Shivamogga (K'taka) (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday commented that the Congress didn't have suitable candidates in about 60 seats and the party would lose badly in the May 10 Assembly polls, performing worse than last time.
He said the Congress lacked not only candidates, but a base in the State as well as clarity on its policies.
"As per my understanding, Congress doesn't have suitable candidates in about 60 seats, so they are trying to get people from here and there," Bommai said in response to a question. "As I had said earlier, D K Shivakumar while preparing Congress' second list contacted almost all our MLAs saying, 'seats have been reserved for you, will you join?'" .
Speaking to reporters here, he said that the Congress and Shivakumar speak with valour, but the reality inside was different.
"They (Congress) will lose badly than last time, there is no doubt on that, because they neither have candidates, nor base nor clarity on policies -- whether it is on reservation or on development. They feel that by speaking with carelessness they can win the election. It is not possible," he added.
Bommai had recently accused Shivakumar of making phone calls to BJP MLAs and offering them tickets in constituencies where the Congress was yet to announce candidates.
The KPCC chief on his part had hit back at this, pointing at saffron party leaders' "knocking at the doors" of Congress MLAs and ensuring that they jumped ship to the BJP to bring the party to power in 2019.
Congress has announced candidates for 166 of the total 224 seats, and is yet to finalise the list for the remaining 58 seats.
Responding to a question regarding Shivakumar's statement that the Congress, on coming to power, would cancel the reservation-related decisions of the BJP government, the CM said, "Let him do, let's see...it is not possible."
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Rupee falls to record low of 86.04 against US dollar, settles 18 paise lower
Mumbai, Jan 10: The rupee declined 18 paise to breach the 86-mark against the US dollar for the first time on Friday as it failed to resist pressure from a stronger American currency and huge outflow of foreign funds.
The local unit settled at 86.04 against the US currency.
Surging crude oil prices overseas and negative sentiment in domestic equity markets also weighed down on the Indian currency, forex traders said.
Also, dollar strengthened on increased demand amid the anticipation of restrictive trade measures by the new US administration after Donald Trump takes over as president on January 20.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 85.88, hit the intra-day peak of 85.85 before breaching the 86-mark to settle at the lowest-ever level of 86.04 against the greenback, 18 paise lower from its previous close.
On Thursday, the rupee gained 5 paise to settle at 85.86 against the US dollar, recovering from the steep decline of 17 paise in the preceding session.
Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst at Mirae Asset Sharekhan, said the rupee hit another record low as domestic markets continued to slide and FIIs outflows sustained. A strong US dollar and surge in crude oil prices also pressured the rupee.
"Weak tone in the domestic markets, a strong greenback and persistent FII outflows may continue to put downside pressure on the rupee. Rising crude oil prices, as well as surge in the US treasury yields may further weigh on the domestic unit.
"However, any RBI intervention may support rupee at lower levels. Traders may take cues from the non-farm payrolls report and consumer sentiment data from the US. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 85.80 to Rs 86.15," he said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.01 per cent higher at 109.01. The 10-year US bond yields also rose to its April 2024 level at 4.69 per cent.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, surged 1.96 per cent to USD 78.43 per barrel in futures trade.
In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 241.30 points, or 0.31 per cent, to settle at 77,378.91 points, while the Nifty dropped 95.00 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 23,431.50 points. The indices have been on the downward track for the past three sessions.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded Rs 2,254.68 crore in the capital markets on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.
The latest government data released on Friday showed the country's industrial production (IIP) growth accelerated to a six-month high of 5.2 per cent year-on-year in November 2024, riding on the increased festive demand and pick up in manufacturing sector.
