Five Cong legislators threaten to quit in Karnataka over ticket allocation issue
Bengaluru (PTI): Five Congress legislators on Wednesday threatened to resign over the issue of Lok Sabha ticket to senior party leader and Minister K H Muniyappa's son-in-law Chikka Peddanna to contest from Kolar in the coming Lok Sabha elections, bringing into open the divisions in the outfit.
The party is yet to announce its candidate in the segment.
The five are opposed to Peddanna's candidature, which would give representation for the Left sect of Scheduled Castes.
The three MLAs from Kolar district - Kothur G Manjunath (Kolar), K Y Nanjegowda (Malur) and MC Sudhakar (Chintamani) - and two MLCs - Anil Kumar and Naseer Ahmed (political secretary to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah) - want the ticket to be given to a candidate from Right sect of Scheduled Castes.
Sudhakar is the Higher Education Minister in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet.
S N Narayanaswamy (Bangarapet), another Congress MLA from the district, too said the ticket should be given to SC Right candidate, and that he will decide on his move, once the party decides on the Kolar ticket.
"This is continuation of a fight between two factions of the Kolar Congress, one led by food and civil supplies minister K H Muniyappa and another by former Karnataka assembly speaker K R Ramesh Kumar, vying for supremacy in the district", a party insider said.
Some even see it as pressure tactics on the part of a section of Congress leaders in Kolar against Muniyappa and his "family politics' '.
The two MLCs met Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti and showed their resignation letters to journalists.
The MLAs were planning to travel to Mangaluru to meet Assembly Speaker U T Khader there, but later cancelled their trip as the latter himself said he is on his way to Bengaluru.
However, the legislators later said they have decided to wait following instructions from Siddaramaiah and the party state President D K Shivakumar on their future course of action.
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BJP-led NDA will form govt in Kerala in 2026: Nitin Nabin
Thrissur (Kerala) (PTI): BJP national president Nitin Nabin on Saturday asserted that the saffron party will come to power in Kerala following the Assembly elections this year as it has the confidence of the people in the state.
Nabin, on the second day of his two-day visit to the state, said that the central government has done a lot for Kerala which included a 23 per cent increase in the loans given to it and doubling of the grants-in-aid provided to the state.
"The central government has never shown a miserly attitude towards the state and these figures are indicative of that," the BJP president contended while speaking at the 'Intellectual Meet on Union Budget 2026 and Vikasitha Kerala' here.
Addressing the gathering, Nabin said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Viksit Bharat Budget 2026 aligns with the aspirations of the people of Kerala, unlocking massive growth opportunities in Tourism, the Rare Earth Corridor, High-Value Crops, and more.
He also claimed that for decades, the successive LDF-UDF governments in Kerala have led to stagnation of the state's growth and decline of various sectors.
He contended that the state needs structural change, fresh ideas, and visionary leadership and the BJP-led NDA remains committed to delivering a 'Vikasita Keralam' (developed Kerala).
Nabin further claimed that world over people were coming together to fight "Islamic forces", but "some people sitting in Kerala are strongly supporting such forces".
He said that this was an "unfortunate situation" prevailing in Kerala and alleged that it would adversely affect the nation's security and development.
The BJP president said that once the party-led NDA comes to power in Kerala, it would protect the state's cultural history while ensuring its development.
"Women, youth and farmers would be empowered, and an environment would be created for the growth of business," he contended.
