RS polls: 3 from BJP including Nirmala Sitharaman register win, Congress nets one seat
Bengaluru, June 10: The ruling BJP in Karnataka had the last laugh as it won all the three Rajya Sabha seats it had contested in, out of total four from the state, that went for polls on Friday, while the Congress managed to win only one of the two seats to which it had fielded its candidates.
The JD(S) which had fielded one candidate despite not having enough votes, failed to win any, as Congress did not accept its request for support in the name of secularism.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor-politician Jaggesh, and outgoing MLC Lehar Singh Siroya of BJP, and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh of Congress were declared victorious by the poll officials after counting of votes.
Sitharaman and Ramesh have been re-elected from Karnataka to the Upper House of Parliament for a consecutive term after this election, for which Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) were the voters.
There was suspense over the outcome of the contest for the fourth seat, which witnessed a tight contest between all the three political parties, as they had fielded candidates despite none of them having adequate number of votes to win it, and thereby forcing an election.
A total of six candidates were in the fray for the Rajya Sabha elections to the four seats from the state, necessitating a contest for the fourth one.
The fight for the fourth seat saw a direct contest between Siroya (BJP's third candidate), Mansoor Ali Khan (Congress' second candidate) and D Kupendra Reddy (JDS' lone candidate).
The election to four Rajya Sabha seats was necessitated as the term of office of members Nirmala Sitharaman and K C Ramamurthy of BJP and Jairam Ramesh -- is due to expire on June 30. The fourth member Oscar Fernandes of the Congress passed away last year.
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I am Sanjay but not Sanjay of Mahabharat who can predict rate cuts, says RBI guv
Mumbai (PTI): I am Sanjay but not Sanjay of Mahabharat who can predict future rate actions and at what level rate moderation will stop amid the ongoing global uncertainties, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Wednesday.
Malhotra's remarks came at a media briefing on being asked if more interest rate cuts are in the offing, after he delivered the second straight interest rate cut since taking over as the RBI governor.
According to the Mahabharat, Sanjay was blessed with divine vision and used his power to relay actions at the Kurushetra battlefield to blind King Dhritarashtra at his palace.
He further said monetary policy and fiscal policy are acting in tandem to meet the growth-inflation targets.
"It is a joint effort... the government has done its bit in the Budget recently by taking a large number of measures in terms of the increased capex, tax rebates and we have reduced repo rate and changed the stance going forward, which means that the direction of the policy repo rate is downwards.
"Where it will reach… we really don't know. I am Sanjay, but I am not Sanjay of Mahabharat to be able to foresee that far. I do not have the divine vision that he had," he said.
He further said "we will jointly (with the government) try to manage the growth and the inflation dynamics in our country".
Earlier in the day, Malhotra announced repo rate cut for the second consecutive time and signalled more easing ahead as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sought to bolster the economy in face of further pressure from damaging US tariffs.
Following the rate cut of 25 basis points, the key policy rate eased to 6 per cent. The move lowers borrowing costs to the lowest level since November 2022, amid easing inflation and a fall in oil prices.
Malhotra also assured that the RBI will maintain sufficient liquidity for speedier rate cut transmission.
We will provide sufficient liquidity for the purposes of monetary policy transmission.
