Bengaluru, May 29: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Kannada film actor-turned-politician Jaggesh will be the BJP candidates for the biennial election for the four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka, which will take place on June 10.

Sitharaman is eyeing her second term from Karnataka after the completion of her six years' tenure as Rajya Sabha member.

The party sprang a surprise by fielding Jaggesh, who hails from Turuvekere in Tumakuru, and set aside the speculation on the outgoing Rajya Sabha member K C Ramamurthy's candidature.

According to party insiders, this move was aimed at wooing the dominant Vokkaliga community and further strengthening the party base in Tumakuru district.

Jaggesh was first elected as Congress MLA in May 2008 only to quit the party and the Assembly membership a year later in 2009, during what is called as Operation Lotus' that brought the BJP strongman B S Yediyurappa to power for the second time soon after a seven-day stint as Chief Minister.

His new political home, the BJP, soon rewarded him with membership to the Karnataka Legislative Council.

The party fielded the two candidates given its strength in the Assembly.

The BJP sources said the party is still exploring the possibility to field one more candidate with the help of JD(S) and may field K C Ramamurthy as an independent candidate though the JD(S) has announced fielding Kupendra Reddy despite lacking requisite numbers.

Meanwhile, Congress leader and former union minister Jairam Ramesh would file his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha election on Monday.

The elections to four seats of Rajya Sabha is necessitated as the term of office of members Nirmala Sitharaman (Union Finance Minister) and K C Ramamurthy of BJP, and Jairam Ramesh and late Oscar Fernandes of Congress is due to expire on June 30.

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New Delhi: With the announcement of Delhi Assembly elections, political campaigns are gaining momentum. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recently shared a video on social media showing poorly maintained roads, claiming they were from Delhi under Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) governance. However, a fact-check by Alt News revealed that the footage was filmed in Faridabad, Haryana, a state governed by the BJP.

The video, shared on BJP’s official social media accounts, featured a caption mocking AAP's infrastructure development, stating, “It is hard to tell whether there are potholes in the road or the road is in the potholes.” Prominent BJP supporters, including Raushan Sinha, also amplified the video, criticising Delhi’s infrastructure under AAP.

Alt News identified a key detail in the video – a signboard reading "Thakur Udaypal Dharamshala." Using Google Maps, they traced the location to Faridabad. A close comparison of the video footage and Google Street View images confirmed the location, with visible matching landmarks such as houses and specific road details.

While the BJP claimed the video depicted Delhi’s roads, Alt News established that it actually highlighted road conditions in Faridabad. This revelation questions the authenticity of the BJP’s claims against AAP’s governance.

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