Will Concentrate On Women Voters: BJP Women's Wing Chief On Karnataka Polls

BJP on Tuesday released the first list of candidates for 189 seats out of 224 seats for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections with 52 new candidates getting tickets.

"In all government schemes, more than 50 per cent of beneficiaries were women".

Bengaluru: Ahead of the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mahila Morcha president Vanathi Srinivasan today said the party will ensure that not a single woman is left behind without supporting the BJP.

"Being the Mahila Morcha, we will concentrate on women voters. A big shift has been taken in Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Goa and Gujarat and the confidence that women show to BJP is across the nation. We want to capture that support. We want to ensure that no single women supporter is left behind without extending support to BJP," Ms Srinivasan told ANI.

"In all government schemes, more than 50 per cent of beneficiaries were women. We uploaded 1 crore selfies with all the women beneficiaries and uploaded them on the NaMo app. In Karnataka, we will club the central scheme with state schemes," she added.

BJP on Tuesday released the first list of candidates for 189 seats out of 224 seats for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections with 52 new candidates getting tickets.

While addressing the press conference BJP's national general secretary Arun Singh said, "52 new faces, eight women, nine doctors, five lawyers, one retired IPS officer, three retired government employees and eight social activists have been given tickets.

He further mentioned that BY Vijendran who is the son of former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has also been given the ticket.

The party fielded former Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao from the Chamrajpet constituency. BJP national general secretary CT Ravi will contest from the Chikmagalur constituency.

State Ministers - Shashikala Jolai, R Ashok, Prabho Chauhan, Shankar Muniyakappa, Muniratna, ST Somashekar, VC Patil, Varity Vasuraj, Murgesh Nirani, CC Patil, Sunil Kumar, Shivram Hebbar have been given tickets.

State Assembly Speaker Vishwaser Hegde has been given the ticket.

"V Somanna MLA from Govindraj Nagar has been given a ticket from Chamaraj Nagar and Varuna Assembly. It will directly challenge Congress leader Siddaramaiah," he added.

In this list, tickets have been given to Lingayat-51, Vokkalinga-41, Kurba-7, SC-30, ST-16 and 32 from the OBC community.

Nomination filing for the state assembly elections will begin on Thursday, April 13.

Meanwhile, supporters of sitting BJP MLA from Belagavi North, Anil Benake staged a protest on Tuesday evening after he was denied a ticket in the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections.

Further, supporters of BJP MLA Mahadevappa Yadawad protested in Ramdurg constituency in Belagavi over the ticket being denied to him. Chikka Revana who joined the BJP recently got the ticket from the constituency.

According to BJP sources, former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has started showing a rebellious attitude and has been called to Delhi.

"Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar has started showing a rebellious attitude. In fact, the party's high command is not in favour of fielding him, but Shettar does not agree. He has been called to Delhi. Shettar will be asked to work for the party. It is unlikely he will get a ticket for the upcoming elections," party sources said.

BJP sources also mentioned that the wife of the late union minister Ananth Kumar will not get a ticket in the upcoming elections.

"No ticket will be given to Tejaswini Ananth Kumar but she may be given a larger role in the organisation in the time to come," sources said.

Jharkhand MGNREGA scam: Pooja Singhal surrenders before PMLA Court

On April 10, the special PMLA court of PK Sharma framed charges against suspended IAS Pooja Singhal under sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Pooja Singhal

RANCHI: Suspended IAS officer Pooja Singhal, surrendered before a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court in Ranchi on Wednesday after her bail period ended.

Pooja Singhal was sent to Birsa Munda Central jail after she surrendered.

Notably, on April 10, the special PMLA court of PK Sharma framed charges against suspended IAS Pooja Singhal under sections 3 and 4 of the PMLA.

Singhal was granted two months’ interim bail in February 2023 for the treatment of her ailing daughter. Earlier on January 3, Sinhgal was granted interim bail for a month on similar grounds.

Two days before the expiry of the bail term, she surrendered before the court on February 4 and obtained a surrender certificate. She filed a bail application with it in the Supreme Court which was allowed.

Singhal had been directed to keep away from the enforcement directorate witnesses. The court had directed Sinhgal not to try to build any pressure on the witnesses and not influence them.

Singhal had knocked on the doors of the SC after Jharkhand High Court denied bail to her on November 3, 2022.

The Enforcement Directorate, after interrogation for over 15 hours, arrested Singhal on May 11 in a money laundering case linked to alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) funds and other charges.

ED also has provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 82.77 crore belonging to the former Jharkhand Mining Secretary Pooja Singhal on money laundering charges. The properties include ‘Pulse Super Speciality Hospital’, ‘Pulse Diagnostic and Imaging Centre’ and two land parcels located in Ranchi.

The ED claimed that Singhal purchased as many as 13 insurance policies by paying a premium of Rs 80.81 lakh and closed them before the completion of their tenure and got Rs 84.64 lakh against it.

Congress won't allow BJP to raise 'One Nation, One Milk' slogan, says Jairam Ramesh

The Congress leader alleged that the BJP and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah are trying to ignore the Constitution which clearly demarcates cooperative societies as a state subject.

Image used for illustrative purposes only.

NEW DELHI: The Congress won't allow a time to come when the BJP can raise the slogan of 'One Nation, One Milk', the opposition party said on Wednesday while accusing the Centre of seeking "enforced cooperation" between Amul and Karnataka Milk Federation brand Nandini.

Terming it a "brazen move" to control dairy cooperatives in states, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the party will strongly oppose the BJP's efforts to centralize control of cooperatives by replacing farmers' control with theirs.

With assembly elections just a month away in Karnataka, the Congress has trained its guns at the ruling BJP and expressed fears that Nandini, the Rs 21,000 crore brand, from the KMF, could be merged with Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL). The BJP has emphatically rejected the charge.

"The Congress party will not allow the time to come when the BJP may raise the slogan of “One Nation, One Milk'," Ramesh said in a statement.

In its election campaign in Karnataka, and in political activities across the country, the Congress will explain to people the "sinister agenda" behind these moves and resolve to oppose them through all possible democratic means, he said.

The Congress leader alleged that the BJP and Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah are trying to ignore the Constitution which clearly demarcates cooperative societies as a state subject.

In December last year, Shah had said during the inauguration of KMF's mega-dairy in Mandya that "cooperation between Amul and Nandini can do wonders in the dairy sector."

Gujarat-based dairy cooperative Amul announced on April 5 that it would enter the Karnataka market to supply its milk and curd.

In his statement, Ramesh alleged that Shah's "enforced cooperation" between Amul and Nandini is a "brazen move by BJP to control dairy cooperatives in states."

Noting that Amul and Nandini are both national success stories of the White Revolution, Ramesh said it was started by Verghese Kurien in Anand and spread across India when prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri established the National Dairy Development Board in 1965.

"The network of cooperatives in each state aimed to empower the dairy farmer, as exemplified by Dr. Kurien's mantra, 'I am an employee of the farmer'," Ramesh said.

He said the Congress helped nurture this decentralized vision over decades, empowering and ensuring autonomy to crores of dairy farmers.

"In sharp contrast, Amit Shah imagines a small collection of centralized organizations under his direct command and control. This is the agenda of the new Union Ministry of Cooperation which Shah heads," Ramesh alleged.

This is why Shah wishes that Amul merges with five other cooperative societies to form a multi-state cooperative society involving two lakh rural diaries, he claimed.

Ramesh also shared a chronology of events, including in it the establishment of the Ministry of Cooperation in July 2021, when Shah given its charge and his announcement that Amul will merge with five other cooperative societies.

"As the chronology shows, PM Modi and his government are following their usual practice. They are establishing their total control, ignoring the Constitution which clearly demarcates cooperative societies as a state subject," Ramesh alleged.

Nandini, Amul, and other cooperatives like OMFED, Mother Dairy, Vijaya and Aavin, empower farmers and help them prosper, Ramesh asserted.

For example, the KMF, which markets Nandini, is a federation of 14,000 cooperative societies organized into 14 unions and its 24 lakh members earn over Rs 17 crore a day, Ramesh said.

"Amit Shah and the BJP wish to replace the farmers' control with their control by consolidating these historic societies into new multi-state cooperative societies," the Congress leader alleged He went on to add that the attempt to compel KMF to act against its commercial interests is only a step towards the intended goal where all dairy unions become a political arm of the BJP.

"Decisions will not be made in Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chennai or Pune, but in Delhi by Amit Shah, the Minister of Cooperation," he claimed This will disempower dairy farmers and will ultimately threaten their incomes and livelihoods, Ramesh said.

"This pattern has been seen before. Karnataka, for example, saw Vijaya Bank, one of the most successful public sector banks, merge with the loss-making Bank of Baroda. Similarly, the State Bank of Mysore merged with SBI and Corporation Bank merged with Union Bank, leaving only one public sector bank with its head office in Karnataka," he said.

He asserted that the Congress has always supported a federal and decentralized vision of India, and strongly opposes "Amit Shah and the BJP's efforts of centralized control".