Krishna Byre Gowda interview: ‘Limited time is a challenge, but Cong-JD(S) strength high’

Lok Sabha 2019

In an interview with TNM, the two-time state minister speaks on the popularity of PM Modi, the controversial elevated corridor project as he aims to beat former CM Sadananda Gowda.

Soumya Chatterjee

At 45, even for a second-generation politician, Krishna Byre Gowda can be considered an overachiever by the standards set in Indian politics. After winning his first election in 2003 following the death of his father and former Janata Dal leader C Byre Gowda from Vemagal in Kolar, Byre Gowda left the Janata Dal and joined the Congress. Since then, he has five Assembly victories under his belt, and has retained his place in the cabinet in the current Kumaraswamy-led government. But now he faces an uphill task of beating incumbent MP and Union Minister Sadanada Gowda from Bengaluru North Lok Sabha constituency, after being named as the candidate for the coalition partners at the last minute. This is an exact repeat of when a decade ago, he was announced as the Congress candidate against the mercurial Ananth Kumar of the BJP from Bangalore South. Though Byre Gowda emerged only second, four-time incumbent Ananth Kumar’s margin was brought down to less than 40,000 votes. Having been elected successively from one of the Assembly segments in the constituency, Byre Gowda is upbeat about his prospects of representing his state and party at the national level. “Limited time is a challenge but Congress and JD(S) voters’ strength in this constituency is very high. We have seven MLAs, and in the last Assembly election, we had a margin of two and a half lakh votes over BJP. So, we are starting from a position of strength. I also have the credibility of being connected, visible, and active as an MLA for the last 10 years. I have worked with people from the entire Bangalore North region, and have close contact with party workers and the general public,” the Karnataka Minister for Rural Development says in an exclusive interview with TNM. He adds, “Compare that to our opponent who got elected five years ago and was really invisible. He wouldn't get involved and work with the people of this constituency. So for him, there is no connect, there is no performance to speak of, and he was not accessible to people. So compared to that, even with the time constraint, it still puts me at an advantage because I have my voter base and the strength of cadre of both the parties across all eight segments.” Excerpts from the interview: Didn’t you initially refuse to be a candidate for this election citing fatigue from the Assembly elections? What made you change your mind? You are right. Having just gone to an election less than a year ago, I was not prepared. But the demand from the public, workers, and leaders of both parties was tremendous. In public life, I can't always be thinking of my own preferences. It's out of a desire to respect the will of people and party leaders that I accepted the challenge. You have said the incumbent MP was invisible. Can you give us one example of how you would have done things differently? See, the least we can do is to be available to the people. I don't think that's negotiable. To give one example, the Old Madras Road is choked with traffic and it is under the National Highway Authority of India. During UPA, the government commissioned elevated roads on Ballari Road, Tumkur Road, and Hosur Road. Because of these elevated roads, traffic is moving. But if you look at the last five years, as an MP and a union minister, he (Sadananda Gowda) could have prevailed upon the central government to build an elevated road from KR Puram. Sometimes, it is not possible to get things done but he has not tried. Like this, I can go on giving you examples. Personally, for you, you had won the 2018 Assembly elections with a narrow margin. Isn’t it a matter of worry? No, there are a total of eight Assembly segments, and putting all those together it puts us at an advantageous position. As I said, we have two and a half lakh votes more than the BJP in the entire constituency going by the Assembly elections.   You have been very vocal on many issues but you have not been heard enough speaking on matters related to Bengaluru. What is your stance on the controversial elevated corridor project? I don't know how you are saying this. I have spoken on every issue that has been asked of me. We believe the elevated road network is necessary along with other forms of solutions to solve Bengaluru's traffic problem to ensure future growth of Bengaluru. Every government in the last 20 years had considered elevated road network as a necessary part of the set of solutions for Bengaluru's traffic problems. This government is not suggesting elevated roads as an alternative to other solutions. And our Chief Minister has said that we are willing to discuss with anybody who has disagreements, as we have an open mind. We are pushing metro aggressively in all directions. We have dedicated Rs 11,500 crore for the suburban railway. Recently, we passed a resolution to commit Rs 6,000 crore for land acquisition for the Peripheral Ring Road although we were expecting the Centre to provide the cost. With regards to the central government, you have said the state has been denied its fair share of financial allocation. But the Centre says the state government does not cooperate with them. What is your take? Even in the release of 14th Finance Commission grants, Centre has not released our full share. For MNREGA, 90% of this money is supposed to come from the Centre, but the Centre has not paid its share – to the tune of Rs 700 crore. Because people are suffering and these are daily wage earners, the state government had to step in and pay close the Rs 700 crore which the central government should have paid. These are facts and figures, not an allegation I am making.   Also coming to 15th Finance Commission, the Terms of Reference are penalising progressive states like Karnataka which are losing out devolution money because of the formula decided by the current government. We have made efforts to control our population over the last 25 years as a contribution to the national interest. So I do not know what cooperative federalism and promoting performance they speak of. Obviously, the central government is unfair, if you look at the disaster relief given to Karnataka. They have given Rs 4,700 crore to Maharashtra but has given Karnataka only Rs 949 crore. Where is the parity? Why should a common person vote for Congress? Many believe that Congress is no match for Prime Minister Modi in terms of personal popularity. It’s true, there is no match for Modi Saab when it comes to making promises and marketing blitz. But when it comes to performance, in every performance indicator you will find 10 years of UPA was far better. Be it in economic growth, job creation, financial sector performance, elimination of poverty... In every real parameter, 10 years of UPA were better of five years of Modi Saab. Where is the promise of creating jobs? Perhaps, I have a little bit more respect for people's intelligence than maybe others. I believe people can differentiate between promises and actual work. And people will vote for performance.  

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2OEANKC
via IFTTT

Racing for a better future: The African-origin tribe in K’taka that’s turning to sports

Human interest

For the last two years, a not-for-profit has been training members of the Siddi community in athletics, and some hope to represent India in sporting events.

Prajwal Bhat

The morning sun glistens over Ravikiran Francis Siddi’s head as he steps out onto the field for his warm-up run. Dust clouds up around his feet as he sprints back and forth in the field in a matter of seconds. His friends form a human outline on the edge of the field watching in equal measures of curiosity and adulation. Inside the Loyola High School grounds on the outskirts of the postcard-esque town of Mundgod in Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada district, this has been a daily routine for Ravikiran, ever since the school’s physical education teachers chanced upon the 17-year-old member of the native African Siddi community living in the heavily-forested areas of the district. The teachers admit that they came across Ravikiran’s obvious sprinting capabilities when they were scouting another member of the same community, Jackson, a district-level kabaddi player, in June 2017. “The local physical education teachers here went to the forests around to scout for new Siddi children who have the potential to excel in sports. Actually, they never went to find Ravikiran. They had gone in search of another kabaddi player and while they didn’t find that player, Ravikiran came to the attention of the teachers. He is now studying at the Loyola High School and is focused on his athletic training alongside his studies,” explains Nitish Chiniwar, founder of Bridges of Sports, a not-for-profit organisation that is working with schools in north Karnataka to train children from tribal communities in sports. In just under two years of training, Ravikiran’s coaches have improved his 100-metres timing to 11 seconds, which is just 0.7 seconds short of the Indian national record. “What we found was that he had a great potential not just in terms of ability to run but also good mental strength in that he was serious about running and he would want to be on the ground everyday irrespective of a coach being there,” says Nitish. The organisation is also planning to work with sports scientists from the Center for Sports Science and Medical Research in Manipal. The hope is that member of the community will excel for India in sports and Ravikiran is the latest person carrying the burden of expectations. But ask him about this and he does not venture a response. Eventually, he says that he vows to keep his head down and continue working to improve his sprint timings. “Before I began training, I used to run in a different way but here we have to run in a particular way and I learnt that through the coach. In the future, I want to keep training and run nationally and maybe even internationally,” he says. ‘Arrival as domestic slaves in India’ In and around Mungod, Ravikiran has turned into a symbol of hope for the Siddi community, which has lived in relative seclusion in India for more than five centuries. Historians have speculated about the arrival of the tribe in India. It’s widely thought that the Siddis docked in Goa in the 16th century as domestic slaves of Portuguese traders living there, though some suggest that their arrival in India predates that. “They were brought to work as domestic slaves in Goa from Mozambique in Africa, which was also a Portuguese colony at the time. This movement started around the 16th century in the beginning of the Portuguese rule in Goa and continued during the 17th and 18th centuries,” says Mark Pinto, an anthropologist based in Goa who has studied the Siddi community. When slavery was outlawed in Portuguese colonies around the world in 1869, the Siddis migrated to the forest areas in Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra. In Karnataka, the Siddis sought refugee from the rulers of the Bijapur Kingdom. Today, around 40,000 members of the Siddi community live in the forested areas of Yellapur, Mundgod and Haliyal in Uttara Kannada.Almost all of them live in the margins of poverty, and many do coolie work for plantation owners. Racial discrimination also severely affected the community and for centuries, they remained alienated from urban society. Santhan Juje Siddi (80), one of the oldest members of the community in Uttara Kannada Tapping into sports potential In 1987, the Sports Authority of India (SAI), spearheaded by the then Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sport Margaret Alva, began initial efforts to set up a sports scheme to scout and train members of the community in hopes of tapping into yet undiscovered athletic abilities of the Siddi people.Around 65 athletes were chosen to be trained in various athletic events. They were even taken to Bengaluru for training after an initial period of training in their schools. However, the ‘Special Area Games Scheme’ was discontinued six years later in 1993 leaving members of the community who enrolled for the programme stranded. “The scheme was not planned well. The community has been isolated for so long. So a scheme like this is essentially an integration into mainstream society and not just a sports training scheme. You actually needed mentors, people who would be able to mentor the Siddis and integrate them. This was not well thought out and that is why they started and stopped, and the scheme never came to fruition,” Mark says. The programme was later revived in 2009 and then again in 2016 with a small change. This time around, athletes enrolled in the scheme were trained in schools near their homes in Uttara Kannada and Dharwad districts. But the lack of specialised coaches meant that the athletes’ training was once again hampered. Veeranagowda Mallanagouda, a physical education teacher in Mundgod’s Loyola High School, recalls, “[Sports Authority of India] started a project to train Siddi children here but they did not send mentors and instead asked us to train them. It is not possible for a physical education teacher to give sports training to so many children.” The uninspiring performances and lack of discipline of the athletes were also factors in the Sports Authority's  decision to discontinue the programme. “The performances of the athletes trained was also deemed to be unsatisfactory. There was also a trend of athletes dropping out and there were a lack of trained coaches who could stay in Uttara Kannada and Dharwad and train tribal athletes”, says Shivali, who worked with SAI on implementing the programme in Dharwad. Shanthi Siddi (mother of Shwetha Siddi) An alternative inclusive model The failure of the scheme raised questions about its short-sightedness and whether an alternative inclusive approach could have benefited athletes. Bridges of Sports now hopes to revive this plan by identifying local coaches who will train athletes from tribal communities. “When I started working here eight months ago, I was a junior coach. We conducted a league and we took in the top athletes including Ravikiran who performed well and began coaching them,” says Rizwan Bendegeri, a national level sprinter from Mundgod who is now coaching a group of 15 tribal students. Bridges of Sports founder Nitish says that they hope to create an ecosystem where children can thrive with proper athletic training “irrespective of whether they are winning or losing.” “Some of them might become professional athletes while others can become coaches who train younger athletes. We have athletes like Shweta Siddi who will be coaching young girls next year because it was very difficult to find women coaches,” explains Nitish. Shweta Siddi, another 17-year-old athlete from the Siddi community, has been an accomplished runner since her primary school days and is set to begin coaching young athletes once she completes Class 12. “I am interested in coaching young athletes because there are only a few members of the community who run and many of them do not have any practice,” Shweta told TNM before taking to the field for her warm-up. Shweta is also hoping to fulfil her parents’ dreams of herracing in state-level competitions. Both her father Suresh Siddi and her mother Shanthi Siddi were interested in sports and running, but could not continue doing it after they dropped out of school. “I used to be interested in sports but there was nobody to encourage us to take up sports or even study. So now, we are hoping our children achieve something we couldn’t do in sports,” says Shanthi Siddi in her home in Bilki, a forested village around 30 km from Mundgod. Shweta Siddi (right), another 17-year-old athlete from the Siddi community Racing to break barriers This is a sentiment shared by Ravikiran’s parents Roja Siddi and Francis Siddi. “He is bringing a name to the community. We have seen Usain Bolt on TV. After seeing that I told my son, you have to give it a shot once in running and only then do other work. We have been undermined and scared to venture out of our comfort zones. When we go to banks and post offices we are asked which country we have come from. So to see my son achieve something in sports makes me proud,” says Francis.   The community also faces everyday racial discrimination. “You will find many accounts of Africans, including students, talk about their bitter experiences in India so it is not surprising that the Siddis too have faced it for a long time. The community is isolated and there are a lot of prejudices about them that they are lazy and they are not trustworthy. It is because of this condition of Afrophobia in the Indian psyche,” says anthropologist Mark. Sports has helped the small community find work and access a better life. Renewed efforts to train children is not just for  medals, but also to help the community break societal barriers and expand the notion of what it means to be Indian. “There were suggestions to send them back to Africa but they will never be able to adapt because they don’t speak the language or know the traditions there. They speak Indian languages fluently, their dressing style is Indian. They have African blood but they are Indians. To correct a wrong, you can’t make another mistake. You can’t uproot communities time and again,” Mark says.

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2FE21Nf
via IFTTT

Disadvantage BJP? Combined vote share in Assembly polls puts alliance ahead in K’taka

Lok Sabha 2019

Of the 28 seats in the state, BJP won 17, Congress 9 and JD(S) 2 in triangular contests on April 17, 2014, as the polling was held in a single phase then.

IANS

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faces a tough battle in Karnataka's first phase of polling for 14 Lok Sabha seats on April 18, as the ruling allies Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) have fielded joint candidates to prevent their bankable votes from splitting at the hustings. "Though the BJP had won 6 of the 14 seats in the 2014 general elections in triangular contests, the going will be tough for it this time, as it faces our joint candidates with higher vote share prospects," a Congress official told IANS. Of the remaining eight seats, the Congress had won six and JD(S) two in the 2014 polls. Of the 28 seats in the state, BJP won 17, Congress 9 and JD(S) 2 in triangular contests on April 17, 2014, as the polling was held in a single phase then. In a pre-poll tie-up, the Congress is contesting 10 seats and JD(S) four, while the BJP is contesting 13 seats in the first phase, as it is supporting multilingual south Indian actress Sumalatha Ambareesh, an Independent, in Mandya, about 100 km southwest of Bengaluru, a JD(S) stronghold. The 14 constituencies in the first phase are: Udupi-Chikmagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga (SC), Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajnagar (SC), Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkaballapur and Kolar (SC). The JD(S) is in the fray in Hassan, Mandya, Tumkur and Udupi-Chikamagalur, with Congress in the remaining 10 seats, including 4 in the Bengaluru region. "As our combined vote share was 51.8 per cent against 43 per cent of the BJP in the 2014 general elections and 56.3 per cent against 36.2 per cent of the BJP in the 2018 assembly elections, our prospects of winning more seats jointly is brighter than that of BJP," claimed Congress official Ravi Gowda. The Congress has fielded 5 of the 6 outgoing lawmakers from their respective seats, barring Tumkur, which it gifted to the JD(S) as part of seat-sharing. The BJP too fielded 5 of the 6 outgoing lawmakers from their respective seats and fielded Tejasvi Surya from Bangalore South, as its six-time winner and Union Minister H.N. Ananth Kumar died in November, 2018. The JD(S) has fielded its supremo H.D Deve Gowda from Tumkur, his elder grandson Prajwal Revanna from Hassan and another grandson, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, from Mandya and Pramod Madhavaraj, a former Congress minister, from Udupi-Chikamagalur. Deve Gowda opted for Tumkur to enable Prajwal to contest from Hassan which he has won for a record six times since 1991. "As joint candidates, our party JD(S) is in a strong position to retain Hassan, Mandya and Tumkur and give a tough fight to BJP in Udupi-Chikamagalur where the Congress has a good presence," JD(S) official Ramesh Babu told IANS. Similarly, the Congress hopes to retain Bangalore Rural, Chamarajnagar, Chitradurga, Chikaballapur and Kolar with the consolidation of votes of the secular allies from the dominant Vokkaliga community, backward classes, Scheduled Castes and minorities. The BJP, however, is upbeat on not only retaining the six seats it had won in 2014, but also wrest Chitradurga, Chikkaballapur and Bangalore Rural from the Congress, riding on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the "achievements" of its NDA government at the Centre in the past 5 years. "Just as we bounced back in 2014 Lok Sabha elections after losing the 2013 assembly elections, we are confident of winning at least 10 of the 14 seats in the first phase, as rural and urban people want Modi to continue as Prime Minister. Every vote for our party is a vote for Modi," BJP spokesman G. Madhusudhan told IANS. The BJP also hopes to get "sympathy votes" from the electorate as its 3-day government had to resign despite winning 104 seats in the May 2018 assembly elections as it fell 9 short of the halfway mark (113) for a simple majority in a house of 224 elected members. "The people will teach a lesson to the Congress and JD(S) for forging an unholy post-poll alliance to form a coalition government only to keep the BJP out of power at any cost despite having won more seats (104) than them separately," asserted Madhusudhan. As the May 2018 assembly elections threw up a hung house, with the Congress winning 80 seats and JD(S) 37, the allies formed a post-poll alliance to form the 10-month-old coalition government on May 23, 2018 after the BJP government fell on May 19 due to lack of majority in the assembly. The remaining 14 Lok Sabha in the state seats will go to the polls in the second phase, on April 23. Those contests will be in the coastal and northern regions of the southern state. Counting of votes is on May 23 in all the 28 parliamentary seats

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2FDTVEl
via IFTTT

Lok Sabha 2019: Rahul Gandhi, Deve Gowda to address joint rally as coalition partners

Lok Sabha 2019

It’s the first political rally that will see the top leadership of both parties share the dais after a pre-poll alliance for the coming polls was announced in mid-2018.

TNM Staff

With little more than two weeks to go for the first phase of polling for Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda will address their first joint rally on Sunday as coalition partners. Rahul, who is also scheduled to address rallies in Vijayawada and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, will land in Bengaluru at 4:15 pm. The rally, which will be held in Bangalore International Exhibition Centre on Tumkur Road, will see close to five lakh supporters of both parties. Other than Rahul Gandhi and HD Deve Gowda, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Deputy CM G Parameshwara, former CM Siddaramaiah, KPCC President Dinesh Gundu Rao and Water Resources Minister DK Shivakumar will be present. The 'Parivartana Samavesha' is the first political rally that will see the top leadership of both the parties share the dais after a pre-poll alliance for the coming polls was announced way back in mid-2018. Sunday’s rally will be primarily targeted towards voters and workers of Tumakuru, Ramanagara, Bengaluru Rural and three constituencies of Bengaluru city. To oversee the arrangements, Chief Minister HDK had himself visited the premises to check on the preparedness of the organisers. Speaking to reporters, the CM said, “This will be the first joint campaign by the Congress and JD(S). Sunday's meeting will be historic as it will send a clear message to the people of the country from Karnataka for the Lok Sabha polls.” The coalition partners who had initially decided to go with a 20:8 seat sharing formula had, in the last minute, changed their decision on Bengaluru North. While the seat was initially allocated to the JD(S), sitting Karnataka minister Krishna Byre Gowda of the Congress was chosen as the candidate. While there is new found bonhomie between the longtime arch-rival, divide between the JD(S) and Congress remain visible in places like Hassan and Tumakuru.

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2I2nPF0
via IFTTT

Karnataka couple stabbed in Germany, husband dies

Crime

The attacker, believed to be a 33-year-old immigrant from New Guinea, was arrested.

TNM Staff

A man from Karnataka’s Udupi district was killed in Munich, Germany, on Friday after a Guinean man stabbed him and his wife. While 49-year-old Prashant Basarur succumbed to his multiple injuries, his wife, Smita, (43) is stable. "Indian couple Prashant and Smita Basarur were stabbed by an immigrant near Munich. Unfortunately, Prashant has expired. Smita is stable. We are facilitating the travel of Prashant's brother to Germany. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family," Sushma Swaraj wrote on Twitter. Preliminary investigation has ruled out the possibility of a hate crime. The attacker, believed to be a 33-year-old immigrant from New Guinea, was arrested and a kitchen knife used to stab the couple was secured, reports said. His motive for targeting the couple remained unclear. Authorities said that an investigation was underway. Sushma Swaraj appreciated the work done by the Consulate General of India in Munich and asked them to take care of the couple's children. According to The Times of India, the attacker lived in the same apartment complex and was involved in a dispute with the couple. The couple was knifed after the altercation spiralled out of control, the report said. Prashant received lethal blows to his head and body. The couple, both of whom are techies, had moved to Germany 15 years ago and had obtained German citizenship only last year. According to the Hindustan Times, the accused did not resist after police alerted by the neighbours arrested him. He was produced in an Augsburg court and was tried for attempt to murder. The report said now with the demise of Prashant, the charges will be changed to murder according to German legal proceedings. Meanwhile, the children of the couple are being taken care of by the German government authorities. Smita’s brother Sujay is set to fly to Germany and is seeking a visa.      

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2JOfSWu
via IFTTT

Karnataka CM seeks EC help to stop tax raids

Lok Sabha 2019

Income Tax's investing wing Director General B.R. Balakrishnan on Thursday refuted the Chief Minister's charge and clarified in a statement that the raids were conducted on credible evidence of tax evasion.

IANS

Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Saturday sought the Election Commission's intervention to stop the Income Tax department raids on contractors and businessmen allegedly associated with the ruling JD-S and Congress. "As IT officials continue to raid those associated with our allies, I appeal to the poll panel to direct the tax department to stop the searches being carried under pressure from the Modi government," Kumaraswamy said in a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer here. Protesting against those identifying with the JD-S and Congress since Thursday, Kumaraswamy staged a demonstration at the IT department office in the city along with Congress leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, its legislative party leader Siddaramaiah and Congress state unit President Dinesh Gundu Rao and hundreds of supporters. "The IT officials continued their raids on Friday and Saturday. They raided rice and sugar mills of Congress and JD-S workers at Mandya and Mysore till 4 a.m. today (Saturday) and have put spy cameras in their premises. Disguising themselves as railway officials, they borrowed vehicles and are staying at the state-run CFTRI at Mysuru." The Chief Minister called the raids a "shameful attempt to threaten the ruling allies and create fear among their cadres" and urged the panel to prevent harassment. "The raids continued on Friday on 68 locations in the state, including Hassan and Mandya, where we are contesting in the first phase of polling on April 18," tweeted Kumaraswamy in Kannada. Premises of 13 contractors, officials of the state Public Works Department and businessmen were raided in Bengaluru, Chikmagalur, Hassan, Mandya and Shivamoga in Malnad region in the state's southwest area. Income Tax's investing wing Director General B.R. Balakrishnan on Thursday refuted the Chief Minister's charge and clarified in a statement that the raids were conducted on credible evidence of tax evasion. "No MP, MLA or Minister have so far been covered in the searches, which are carried on contractors and connected persons in the state," said Balakrishnan. Terming the raids as Modi's "real surgical strike" in the open, Kumaraswamy alleged the offer of a constitutional post to Balakrishnan helped the Prime Minister in his revenge game. "Highly deplorable to use the government machinery and corrupt officials to harass opponents during election time," tweeted Kumaraswamy. PM @narendramodi's real surgical strike is out in the open through IT dept raids. The constitutional post offer for IT officer Balakrishna helped the PM in his revenge game. Highly deplorable to use govt machinery, corrupt officials to harrass opponents during election time. — H D Kumaraswamy (@hd_kumaraswamy) March 28, 2019 "The activities of the tax department should not be politicized, personalized or trivilized. In particular, statements which sound like an incitement to violence issued by persons holding responsible posts are deplorable," Balakrishnan said.  Polling for 28 Lok Sabha seats across the state will be held in two phases on April 18 and April 23. 

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2UnxxZd
via IFTTT

Rebel Cong leader refuses to withdraw nomination in Udupi, to contest as independent

Lok Sabha 2019

Amrit Shenoy decided to file his nomination as an independent candidate from Udupi in protest against the decision to hand over the constituency to JD(S).

Prajwal Bhat

In a blow to the Congress, a rebel leader from its party has refused to withdraw his nomination from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency in the Lok Sabha elections. Amrit Shenoy, who is popular within the Congress party in Udupi, decided to file his nomination as an independent candidate after the Congress conceded the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru seat to alliance partner JD(S) as part of a seat-sharing agreement between the parties. The JD(S), after deliberation, decided to field Congress leader Pramod Madhwaraj, albeit on a JD(S) ticket. "I am contesting the elections to represent the Congress party from here. I was asked to withdraw my candidature but I have decided that I will not withdraw in protest against the decision to hand over the constituency to the JD(S)," Amrit told TNM.  The move to hand over the constituency to the JD(S) created fissures within the Congress party in Udupi since the JD(S) has limited presence in the district. The party was not able to finalise a candidate from the constituency and was forced to rope in a Congress leader to contest. "The JD(S) has a limited presence in Udupi. The JD(S) candidate received just 14,000-odd votes last time around, so we do not understand the logic behind this move. In an alliance, the two parties should play to their strengths and pick candidates who are stronger in the region," adds Amrit.  Amrit's decision to contest has also led to a division within the party particularly since he has forged a reputation as being a strong grassroots leader. "There is confusion among party workers because Amrit is someone who has worked closely with the party at the grassroots level. It is a different issue altogether to win an election as an independent but this will definitely affect the cadre of Congress workers in Udupi and Chikkamagaluru," explains a Congress leader who did not wish to be named.  Even an attempt by Pramod to pacify Amrit and ask him to withdraw his nomination failed to change his decision. Amrit and Pramod will now be facing incumbent MP and BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje who beat competition from Jayaprakash Hegde to secure her nomination from the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency. She is facing opposition from a section of BJP workers in the constituency who started a 'Go Back Shobha' campaign highlighting the perception that she has neglected the constituency and has concentrated on state-level politics.  Read: Congress' Pramod Madhwaraj to contest Udupi-Chikkamagaluru on JD(S) ticket

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2CMk3ft
via IFTTT