Union Minister Sitharaman, actor-turned-politician Jaggesh to contest RS poll for BJP from K'taka
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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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
