The Karnataka Assembly election is going to be a litmus test for outgoing chief minister Basavaraj Bommai.
Reports of senior leaders quitting BJP and JD(S) and joining Congress are coming in every day. The reason? Anti-incumbency wave and government scheme have failed to woo people. In the 2018 election also, the BJP managed to hold on to power.
Kudligi BJP MLA NY Gopalakrishna resigned as legislator on Friday ahead of the May 10 poll. He submitted his resignation to Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri at his office at Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district.
Gopalakrishna says planning to take retirement
About speculations of joining Congress, Gopalakrishna said he was planning to take retirement from politics. “My age is 72, and at this age...I cannot take the responsibility due to age and health factors...I have not thought of joining another party and my plan is to retire from politics,” he said.
Gopalakrishna said his sons' desire to contest the poll from “any of the parties” was one of the reasons for his resignation as an MLA. He recently met Congress leaders DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah.
Didn't quit JD(S), they sent me out: Ramaswamy
Meanwhile, JD(S) MLA from Arkalgud A T Ramaswamy also resigned as legislator on Friday.
Ramaswamy submitted his resignation to the Assembly Secretary at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. If he will join BJP or Congress is unclear.
“I have happily resigned as Arkalgud MLA. I have submitted my resignation to the Assembly secretary, and once the Speaker comes I will meet him and request him to accept it,” Ramaswamy told reporters.
“I did not quit JD(S). They themselves have sent me out... I'm a victim before money power. As I have officially resigned today, I will discuss the future and decide...I have been contacted by people from other parties. Without anything official yet, it will not be right to speak on it...I aspire to contest the election to serve people if I get an opportunity,” he added.
Another JD(S) MLA from Arsikere in Hassan, Shivalinge Gowda, is likely to resign soon and join the Congress.
Election officials search Bommai's car
Election officials intercepted and checked Bommai's car when he was on his way to a temple in Bengaluru Rural as the model code of conduct is in force. A video of officials checking the vehicle went viral on social media.
Sources said the CM was heading to Ghati Subramanya temple in a private car. He surrendered his official car on Wednesday when poll schedule was announced. It was stopped at Hosahudya checkpost.
“Nothing objectionable was found, and officials then allowed the vehicle to go, and the chief minister continued his journey,” a source said.
Code violation: Cong, BJP lodge complaints
BJP and Congress have lodged complaints against each other with the Election Commission about model code of conduct violations.
Congress said cookers and other freebies were found at Byatarayanapura in Bengaluru. BJP alleged Siddaramaiah distributed cash in Mysuru's Varuna.
Congress candidate and former minister Krishna Byre Gowda alleged about six days ago GST officers raided a premise and seized the inducement material worth Rs3.6 crore.
BJP MLC Chalavadi Narayanaswamy lodged the complaint on Wednesday in which he alleged Siddaramaiah went to his constituency and distributed money.
Meanwhile, Shivakumar landed in the soup for allegedly throwing cash among people while campaigning in Mandya on Tuesday. The police registered a non-cognisable offence against him.
AAP releases second list
Aam Aadmi Party on Friday announced second list of candidates. The list was announced by AAP state chief Prithvi Reddy and party's state election in-charge Dilip Pandey.
In the first list, the party had announced 80 candidates and the second list names 60 candidates.
“We have released a list of 60 candidates, this shows we are ahead of all other parties,” he added.
“AAP is providing opportunities to common man. In the second list too, the average age of our candidates does not exceed 45 years. In the two lists, 23 engineers, 14 farmers, 18 advocates, 11 women, six doctors, five techies and five doctorate holders are given tickets. The two lists have 68 graduates and six MBA graduates,” he added.
