‘Poll will be a battle between communalism & secularism’: Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah believes that the Assembly election in the State on May 12 is a battle between communalism and secularism, and will set the agenda for 2019.
In an interview, he said the Congress returning to power in Karnataka is imperative for the national political scene to change.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to make a series of visits to Karnataka in the last leg of the campaign, will not be able to sway the voters, he said.
“You cannot wave a magic wand and change things in an election,” he said, predicting a Congress victory and ruling out the possibility of a hung Assembly.
Accusing both Mr. Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah of making corruption allegations without substance, he said a slew of welfare programmes by his government would see his party through.
The Chief Minister — who is expected to contest from Chamundeshwari constituency in Mysuru district and is toying with the idea of also contesting from Badami in Bagalkot district — said the 2018 Assembly poll would be his last battle.
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Bihar CM Nitish Kumar takes oath as Rajya Sabha member
New Delhi (PTI): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday took oath as a member of Rajya Sabha, marking the end of his two-decade rule in the eastern state and paving the way for a new chief minister.
The oath was administered by Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan in his chamber at a brief ceremony. The Chairman later welcomed him as a member of the Upper House and also on his return in Parliament.
Kumar took the oath in Hindi in the presence of Union Minister J P Nadda, who is also leader of the house, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Panchayati Raj Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ram Nath Thakur and Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal.
Bihar deputy chief minister Samrat Chaudhary was also present at the oath-taking.
JDU leader and party's working president Sanjay Kumar Jha, Congress chief whip in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh, besides BJP MP and former union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy and BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha Sanjay Jaiswal, were among those present during the oath-taking.
"Vice President of India and Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan, administered the oath to Shri Nitish Kumar as an elected Member of Rajya Sabha, from Bihar, at Parliament House today," the Vice President's office said on X, while sharing pictures of the oath-taking.
After the oath-taking, Kumar came out of the new Parliament building and spoke about the time he was a member of the Lok Sabha and sat in the old Parliament building.
As Kumar assumes the Rajya Sabha role, it marks the end of his long two-decade rule in Bihar. Kumar will soon resign as chief minister and the NDA is likely to elect a new chief minister of Bihar on April 14.
He has already resigned as a member of the State Legislative Council on March 30 after he was elected to Rajya Sabha.
The JD(U) supremo was elected to the Upper House of Parliament on March 16, and he had to quit as an MLC in the 14-day period after his election.
