Karnataka

Gali Janardhan Reddy, a notorious politician that BJP president Amit Shah disowned emphatically just days ago, is out on the streets of north Karnataka, campaigning for the party. "I am working for the BJP," said the 49-year-old, out on bail since 2015.

Gains by the BJP in the Karnataka assembly election next month will fall short of a majority, an opinion poll showed, potentially forcing it to seek an alliance to end the rule of the Congress party in its last big state.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah lashed out at BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa on Tuesday for calling Congress a party of dynastic politics as he questioned the credentials of the BJP to make the attack.

On the last day of filing nominations for the Karnataka assembly elections that are due next month, there were surprises right up to the last minute, especially in Badami constituency that witnessed shows of strength by political heavyweights from the Congress and the BJP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address about 20 rallies in Karnataka to boost the BJP's campaign in a state where his party is locked in a keen fight with the Congress.

The Congress stands a very good chance of winning the Karnataka Assembly polls, and the high-command will take a call on the next chief minister, senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge said today, indicating incumbent Siddaramaiah may not be the automatic choice.

The BJP will deploy some 40 "star campaigners" including Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Karnataka ahead of the assembly election on May 12, the party has told the state's top election officer

In one of its sharpest attack on BJP ahead of next month's Karnataka's assembly election, the Congress today put out documents that it said, showed how the federal probe agency CBI had shut down cases in the state's biggest iron-ore mining scandal that had cost BJP's BS Yeddyurappa the chief minister's chair back in 2011. Three mining baron brothers, the Reddy brothers, were at the heart of these mining scandals.

The BJP move to pull out the son of BS Yeddyurappa from Varuna will "make no difference", Congress candidate Dr Yatheendra Siddaramiah told NDTV a day after the BJP unit witnessed a virtual rebellion following the shock announcement. The election at Varuna was expected to be a face-off between the sons of the Congress Chief Minister and the BJP's prospective chief minister - till Mr Yeddyrappa announced last evening that his son won't be contesting.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will face BJP parliamentarian B Sriramulu, a key aide of the Reddy brothers, in Karnataka's Badami on the May 12 election.

The Income Tax Department today conducted searches on a number of contractors in poll-bound Karnataka in connection with a tax evasion probe, officials said.

BS Yeddyurappa's son will not contest the May 12 Karnataka election, the BJP made it clear as announced a youth wing post for BY Vijayendra to appease the father-son combo. Yesterday, angry BJP workers shouted slogans against party chief Amit Shah and broke furniture at a hotel in protest as Yeddyurappa Junior was not named as the BJP candidate in Varuna.

After it was announced that as the party's chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa announced that his son, BY Vijayendra will not be its candidate for the Varuna seat, triggered massive protests by BJP workers in Mysuru, who threatened to resign if Yeddyurappa Junior is not named a candidate by today.

There was no dog-whistling involved; instead, the call to action was unabashedly blunt.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh today accused the Congress government in poll-bound Karnataka of adopting "the model of political violence" from Kerala, but assured people that BJP will end the violent targeting of political workers if it comes to power in the state.