BJP stalwart and former Karnataka chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s son is likely to contest against veteran Congress leader Siddaramaiah from the Varuna seat in Mysuru in upcoming elections in the state.

Speaking at an emergency presser in Bengaluru, held day after the Election Commission announced elections in Karnataka will be held on May 10,  BS Yediyurappa—the spearhead of BJP’s poll campaign in Karnataka—revealed that high-level discussions by the saffron party’s top brass are being held to decide if his son BY Vijayendra, will be fielded from Varuna—a seat currently represented by former chief minister and Congress veteran Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra.

Yediyurappa, who is currently in the eye of the storm over the internal reservation issue among Scheduled Castes (SC) stood by the BJP regime’s decision to implement the AJ Sadashiva panel commission’s recommendations, saying that the reservation quota for Lingayats and other communities was justified and no injustice has been done to Muslims either as they will now get reservation in the Economically Weaker Sections quota.

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Yediyurappa also claimed that the Congress will not get more than 70 seats in the 224-seat Karnataka assembly.

On Monday, hundreds of protesters belonging to the Banjara community attacked the home and office of BS Yediyurappa in Shivamogga area of the state during a massive demonstration against a recent reservation decree by the Basavaraj Bommai government in the state.

Karnataka’s Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP regime has decided to implement the AJ Sadashiva panel commission report on internal reservation among SC’s. Based on the commission’s report, the Bommai government has recommended to the Centre a new breakup of the reservation for Scheduled Castes in education and jobs.

The recommendations suggest that out of the 17 percent reservation for the SC community, 6 percent be earmarked for Scheduled Castes (left), 5.5 percent for Scheduled Castes (right), 4.5 percent for “touchables” and one percent to others.

The Banjara community has demanded the Karnataka government to withdraw the proposed amendments as they would stand to lose out if the recommendations are implemented.

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Himanta Biswa Sarma retracted his statements inside the state Assembly after the Congress filed a breach of privilege complaint against the Assam Chief Minister on Wednesday.

A complaint was filed by Congress Legislature Party with the Principal Secretary of Assam Assembly for Sarma’s remarks during a debate on former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha.

Sarma later withdrew his complaint, however, the Congress has not withdrawn its privilege notice and demanded an apology from the Assam CM.

A complaint letter by signed by over 20 Congress MLAs and addressed to the Principal Secretary said: “Today in the House, the Leader of the House Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has stated that he is aware of the discussion held in the ACLP (Assam Congress Legislature Party) room. Further, he has also stated that some Hon’ble Member of the ACLP has informed him about the decision taken in the CLP meeting held on 28th March, 2023.”

The ACLP said the statement by Sarma was false and hence was bringing a breach of privilege against Leader of the House Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, while urging the principal secretary to take up the notice for “further action” according to the law.

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Commotion erupted in the Assam Assembly on Wednesday morning after the Congress introduced an Adjournment Motion to discuss the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha following his conviction by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case.

Introducing the notice, Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia said they want to send a resolution to the President of India requesting her to uphold the Constitution as it is the same for every citizen and the executive must act fairly to protect it.

In his reply to the motion, Himanta Sarma said that expressing opinions on judicial matters is unprecedented and claimed he knew that the ACLP had taken a decision last night to “create noise” in the House.

 Replying to the motion, Mr Sarma said, “It’s unprecedented that we’re expressing opinions on a judicial matter here. I know that a decision was taken by Congress Legislature Party last night to create noise here.

Sarma later parts of his claim that someone from the opposition had informed him of the Congress’ plan the previous night.

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Mamata Banerjee stages overnight sit-in protest against Centre’s discrimination

West Bengal Chief Minster Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday staged an overnight sit-in in front of Dr BR Ambedkar’s statue on Kolkata’s Red Road to protest Centre’s alleged “discrimination” against the TMC-ruled state.

Accompanied by top leaders, including Firhad Hakim and Aroop Biswas—and workers of her Trinamool Congress (TMC), Banerjee sat overnight in front the Dalit icon’s bust in the heart of Kolkata from Wednesday noon to protest the BJP-led Centre’s stoppage” of funds to West Bengal for MGNREGA and other schemes of the housing and public works departments.

Reverting her earlier stance on staying equidistant from the BJP and the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the TMC supremo on Wednesday, urged political parties across the country to form a united front for ousting the saffron party in next year’s national elections.

Mamata Banerjee termed the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as a fight between citizens of India versus the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and urged people, irrespective of region or religion, to unite and defeat the right-wing party and save India’s poor.

Read Also: Congress files breach of privilege complaint against Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

Dubbing the BJP as ‘Dushasana’ and ‘Duryodhana’ – the two villains from the Hindu epic ‘Mahabharata’, Banerjee urged all political parties in India to unify and oust the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP regime at the Centre.

She claimed that ‘Duryodhana’ BJP must be ousted to “save” India’s common man and the country’s democracy.

A senior officer of the Kolkata Police said that heavy security has been deployed in and around the venue where the West Bengal CM is currently staging her 30-hour sit-in protest which is likely to end by late Thursday evening.

After choosing to remain aloof from the BJP-Congress tussle, Mamata Banerjee participated in the grand old party’s strategy meet to protest Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Parliament as the Opposition presented a united front.

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