N-deal OK if no ban on Pokhran III: Advani

Pune, June 5: Senior BJP leader and party's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani on Thursday said he would have no objection to the signing of the much-debated nuclear deal with the US if it was renegotiated to allow the option of further nuclear testing.

"We have no problem with supply of nuclear fuel from America for our reactors and for generation of atomic energy. But we have to ponder over at what cost we are going to get it," Advani, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha remarked at a book release function in Pune.

Criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for rejecting the BJP demand to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Pokhran II, the 1998 atomic explosions by India conducted by the NDA government that made the country a nuclear power, Advani said his party attached similar importance to Pokhran I, that happened in 1974 under the rule of Indira Gandhi.

Source: Expressindia

BJP Stakes Claim to Form Govt in Karnataka

BANGALORE: BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa, who led BJP to a landmark victory in Karnataka assembly poll, met Governor Rameshwar Thakur on Monday night and staked claim to form government armed with the support of five independents who helped him cross the magic figure of 113 for a simple majority in 224-strong assembly.

Yeddyurappa, 66, met the Governor Rameshwar Thakur on Monday evening and handed over a letter staking claim to form the government along with letters of support from five independents backing his government.

The independents who helped BJP cobble the majority House are Shivaraj Thangadi, the BJP rebel who won from Kanakagiri, JD(S) rebel emerging victorious from Hosadurga, Goolihatti Shekhar, and three Congress rebels Narendra Swamy (Malavalli), Venkataramanappa (Pavagada) and D Sudhakar (Hiriyur).

BJP General Secretaries, Arun Jaitley, HN Anantkumar and state unit president DV Sadananda Gowda were part of the party delegation that met the Governor

BJP claims support of independents to form government

Bangalore, May 26 (IANS) An upbeat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday claimed the support of at least three independents to reach the halfway mark in the 225-member legislative assembly for a working majority and to form its first government in Karnataka - and southern India.

"We are in touch with a couple of independents. For instance, Shivaraj, elected from Kanakagiri as an independent, has pledged support to us. He was with the BJP but contested as a rebel candidate. Similarly, we have approached two more independents -- D. Sudhakar from Hiriyur and D. Shekar from Hosadurga for their support. The response is positive," a party leader told IANS.

Although the BJP emerged victorious in the assembly election with 110 members winning, it is short of three members to reach the magic figure of 113 for a simple majority. The party hopes to rope in as many of the six independents elected to the house.

"The newly elected legislators have elected (B.S.) Yeddyurappa as leader of the BJP legislature party. We are going to Raj Bhavan later in the day to formally stake claim to form the next government. We hope Governor Rameshwar Thakur will invite our leader to form the government by May 28," the leader said.

In the absence of a clear majority in the assembly, the party plans to let Yeddyurappa take oath first and expand the cabinet after winning the trust vote on the floor of the house.

It is also thinking of swearing a couple of senior leaders along with Yeddyurappa and take up the ministry expansion later.

Meanwhile, two other independents - Varthur Prakash from Kolar and P.M. Narendra Swamy from Malavalli -- have sought the chief minister's post for Congress leader and former deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah for their support. Both the independents contested the election after they were denied Congress ticket.

In the election held in three phases this month, the Congress won 80 seats and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) 28. The six remaining seats went to independents.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal-United did not win a single seat.

In a related development, JD-S chief and former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda is reported to have offered unconditional support to the Congress for forming a coalition government.

Read Full Story here

Cong Concedes Defeat in Karnataka

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday virtually conceded defeat in Karnataka assembly polls, saying getting an absolute majority was not absolutely possible because of the three-way split in votes.

Union Minister and AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka Prithviraj Chavan said the party may not be able to reach the half-way mark.

The reason, he said, was that with the JD(S) doing well in a limited way, secular votes were divided and that affected the Congress.

Asked whether it was possible for the party to align with the JD(S), he said these decisions would be taken at the level of the Congress Working Committee and the party high command.

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K'taka jolt puts Cong on a slippery electoral road

After the saffron surge in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, now the BJP's successful foray in Karnataka has rung the alarm bells for the Congress ahead of a series of elections before the next Lok Sabha polls.

The Grand Old Party is on a slippery electoral road in the last one year and the defeat in Bangalore is a jolt ahead of the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi in the next few months.

Congress leaders are now admitting that a variety of factors did them in Karnataka which includes the issue of price rise, terrorism as also the failure to get their act together.
A senior leader, who did not want to be quoted, said that the state Congress failed to project a united face and the party as a whole was not ready for an election in May. They expected that the elections would be held in October because of delimitation.

Another leader's assertion only recently that if there is an undercurrent of sympathy, BJP will win around 110 seats in the 224-member House proved almost prophetic.

Congress also repeated its mistakes of Gujarat where its tactics of relying on the rebels of BJP had proved counterproductive. In Karnataka, the reliance on JD-S rebels as also repeating most of the Congress MLAs did not find favour with the voters.

The failure to project a chief ministerial candidate also went against the Congress. There was a sizable section in the party at the Central level, which wanted such projection of a CM candidate, but the idea was given up due to too many claimants.

In the Congress, there were too many senior leaders desirous of the top job and S M Krishna's return to active politics after quitting his gubernatorial post in Maharashtra probably made the race bitter internally.

All senior state leaders tried to grab as many seats as possible for their supporters and basically concentrated on those seats only, party insiders said.

In Gujarat too, the party had not projected a CM candidate and Narendra Modi had exploited it to project that he was pitted against Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

The Karnataka outcome may present the BJP an issue on its platter ahead of the assembly elections in the states ruled by the saffron party like in Rajasthan, in an attempt to neutralise anti-incumbency.

The shock from Bangalore has come at a time when the UPA coalition at the Centre entered the election year amidst growing concerns over rising prices and a bleak future for the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Source:Express India

BJP Wins Karnataka Polls, Now Eyes Lok Sabha

The BJP on Sunday appeared edging close to forming its first government in the south but may fall short of getting a majority on its own by a few seats as counting of votes progressed in the Karnataka assembly elections.

With seven results going in its favour, the saffron party was placed ahead in 102 other seats out of the 218 constituencies for which trends were available after more than three hours of counting.

Congress has won two seats and was ahead in 68 seats as leads swung sharply after every round of counting in fiercely contested fights in almost all constituencies.

JD(S) led in 35 while independents and others were ahead in seven during counting of votes for 224 constituencies. BJP leader Arun Jaitley conceded that the party may be "a little away" from the majority while his party colleague Ravi Shankar Prasad demanded that BJP should be called to form the government and there was no other question. In the outgoing assembly, the BJP got 79 seats, INC 65 and JD(S) 58.

BJP's Narasimha Naik bagged the Shorapur seat beating his nearest Congress rival Raja Venktappa Naik by 4,000 votes, while former minister B Sriramulu defeated Ramprasad of Congress in Bellary Rural (Reserved) by over 25,000 votes. In Sullia (SC), BJP's S Angara humbled Dr Raghu of Congress by over 5,300 votes.

BJP chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa is leading in Shikaripura by 14355 votes. The Congress and JD(S) did not field any candidate in the constituency in a bid to defeat Yeddyurappa.

Former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy of JDS has established an unassailable lead of 34,158 votes against his rival political novice Mamata Nichhani of Congress.

Former Chief Minister of Congress N Dharam Singh and KPCC President M Mallikarjun Kharge were among the others who maintained comfortable leads over their respective rivals.

BJP MP Ambareesh (Srirangapatna), former deputy Chief Minister MP Prakash of Congress (Harappanahalli), RV Deshpande, who is looking for a seventh win from Haliyal are the prominent candidates who are trailing.

Source: Hindustan Times

Shah Rukh's 'dogged' reply to Aamir Khan

It appears that Bollywood blogs bite with actor Aamir Khan's latest entry raising eyebrows for naming his pet dog "Shah Rukh" but superstar Shah Rukh Khan said he is not ruffled and that he is taking it in spirit.

After Amitabh Bachchan's blog created a controversy with his remarks against veteran actor and BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha, Aamir's latest blogpost talks about his pet dog "Shah Rukh" at his home in Panchgani.

Aamir, who is recuperating from a hamstring injury suffered on the sets of Ghajini, said he has nothing to do with the naming of the dog.

"Shah Rukh is the dog of the caretakers of our house. When I bought this house it came with the caretakers," he clarified in the blog.

When his reaction was sought to Aamir's blog, Shah Rukh on Thursday said he is not bothered and that he was taking it in the spirit.

"I have never bothered about it because I also say a lot of things in fun and I think I am also may be stressing somebody else out.


I don't get stressed when friends pass comments like this. Actually I enjoyed it," Shah Rukh said.

Aamir said apparently, Shah Rukh, the actor was shooting a commercial in the Panchgani house, a few years ago, and that very day, the caretakers bought a pup and named him after the then rising star.

"What are the chances of me buying a house which comes with a dog called Shah Rukh. Some of my friends claim that I bought the house because of the dog. I would have to be a serious fan of Shah Rukh's to want to do that. All I can say is that I'm waiting for him to come over," Aamir wrote on his blog.

Mores stories here

IPL Cheerleaders Cover Up After BJP Warning

Hyderabad: The BJP's threat to disrupt the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) match in Hyderabad on Sunday to protest the "indecent" dresses of the cheerleaders forced the organisers to change the dress code minutes before the match.

The dress code was changed by the management of the Deccan Chargers before they clashed with Kolkatta Knight Riders at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

The cheerleaders of Deccan Chargers and Knight Riders were seen with their bodies fully covered. Even the dancers and singers, who entertained the spectators before the start of the match, were fully covered.


The BJP had threatened to disrupt the match if the cheerleaders continue "indecent" performances. The police made elaborate security arrangements at the stadium to prevent any incident.

Source: CNN-IBN

49 Candidates with Criminal Record in Fray in II Phase

BANGALORE: The second phase of Assembly Elections in Karnataka on May 16 will witness 49 candidates with criminal records contesting across 66 Assembly segments.

The BJP leads the list with 13 candidates, followed by the Congress -9, JD(S) -8, BSP -7 and others -12. Of these, six have been charged with murder or attempt to murder, with the BJP accounting for three and the JD(S), BSP and JD(U), one each.

The Karnataka Election Watch Committee, based on a study of the affidavits submitted by candidates during filing of nominations, revealed these findings on Sunday.

Releasing the report, Trilochan Sastry of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, said that the longterm strategy of the Committee is to pressure political parties to field clean candidates.

Crorepatis in the fray

The financial assets of candidates in general, has also seen a tremendous increase. Five candidates, two from the BJP and three from the Congress, have declared assets of over Rs 30 crore, coming under the ‘Very High’ category.

Bellary City constituency candidate Anil H Lad tops the list with assets worth Rs 172.72 crore, followed by Haliyal candidate R V Deshpande with Rs 116.29 crore. The list is rounded off with Vijayanagara candidate Anand Singh (Rs 74.56 crore), Davangere South candidate S Shivashankarappa (Rs 50.15 crore) and Harappanahalli candidate G Karunakara Reddy (Rs 34.06 crore).

Under the ‘High Assets’ category (Rs 5 crore to Rs 30 crore), there are 17 candidates contesting the second phase. A total of 46 candidates have declared very low assets of Rs 1 lakh or less. The total assets declared by all 372 candidates is Rs 902 crore, with average candidate assets of Rs 2.42 crore.

The Congress leads the list with total declared candidate assets of Rs 470 crore and average candidate assets of Rs 7.35 crore.

The BJP had total assets of Rs 249.8 crore and an average of Rs 3.78 crore and the JD(S) Rs 77.9 crore and Rs 1.28 crore.

source: New Indian Express

Advani Violated Official Secrets Act: Yashwant Sinha

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has taken head on his party's prime ministerial candidate LK Advani on the Kandahar hijack episode, saying the latter's comment on the controversial issue was a ''breach'' of the Official Secrets Act.

In an interview to a private TV news channel, the former union minister said the discussion and views expressed during the course of a Cabinet meeting and more so in the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) should never be disclosed.

"His comment is violation of the Official Secrets Act," Sinha said. Advani had claimed that he was unaware of the Cabinet decision to release the three terrorists in exchange of passengers of the Indian Airlines flight IC-814, hijacked and taken to Kandahar in December 1999.

For detailed report: DNA

Karnataka: 60% Turnout in First Phase of Polls

NEW DELHI: An estimated 60 per cent of the nearly 1.73 crore voters on Saturday exercised their franchise in the crucial first phase of Assembly elections in 89 of the 224 constituencies of Karnataka. (Watch)

"Polling was peaceful and there were no reports of any untoward incident like booth capture or violence from anywhere in the state," Deputy Chief Election Commissioner R Bhattacharya told reporters here.

Full Story: TOI

First Phase: Peaceful Polling in Karnataka

BANGALORE: About 15 per cent of an estimated 1.73 crore electorate exercised their franchise till 10 am on Saturday in the 89 constituencies where polling is underway for the first phase of Assembly elections in Karnataka.

The poll process started without any trouble and no untoward incident had been reported, according to information reaching the police headquarters here.

Around 20 persons who were moving in a suspicious manner in Hebbal Assembly segment in the city were being questioned, police said.

Read more: Karnataka Polls