Bangalore:

The filing of nomination papers for the Karnataka Assembly elections begins on Wednesday. With barely a month to go for the polls, political parties are all set to add 'star power' to their election campaign. The Bharatiya Janata Party has roped in Kannada actress Tara a for now, but the party is pulling out the big guns closer to the elections by bringing in Hema Malini and Smriti Irani in the last fortnight ahead of polling.

The Congress too has its own army of stars with actors like Ramya and Bhavna. Veteran actor Ambareesh is also on board and will contest from the Mandya constituency. Telegu superstar Chiranjeevi, too, will be injecting his dose of stardom by campaigning for the Congress in constituencies on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border.

"Cinema stars, cricket stars bring in the oomph factor and create a general morale. They're booster doses and they create momentum in favour of many parties," Congress MLA Krishna Byregowda said.

Pooja Gandhi, an A-list Kannada actor, takes on her third political avataar with the 2013 polls campaigning for mining magnate B Sriramulu's BSR party. The actress had entered politics by joining the JD(S) in 2012, switching over to BS Yeddyurappa's Karntaka Janata Party and then quitting as she felt sidelined.

With such a slew of stars descending on to the election battleground, parties are having to deal with a tug-of-war over tickets. Not to be left behind, the Election Commission too has roped in filmstars like Puneet Rajkumar and Aindrita Ray to urge people to vote in the coming elections.

But will the journey from 'abhineta' to 'neta' be an easy one? For all the 'star' campaigners in Karnataka, May 5 will be the real test of their political fortunes.

source:http://ibnlive.in.com/news

New Delhi, April 8, 2013

The BJP on Monday suspended two of its MPs from Karnataka, including former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa's son B.Y. Raghavendra, for anti-party activities.

The other MP to be suspended was Shiv Kumar Udasi, considered close to Yeddyurappa, who left the BJP last year to float his own party KJP after the saffron party refused to accept his demand for his reinstatement as Karnataka chief minister.

Earlier in the day, BJP president announced that Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar would continue to be the party's chief ministerial candidate in the Karnataka Assembly polls. He was addressing a Bangalore rally through video conferencing after his aircraft developed some snag and he had to return midway.

The BJP chief also said that veteran leader L.K. Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi would be the party's star campaigners in Karnataka. He, along with Leaders of Opposition in Parliament - Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley - was to visit Bangalore to begin the party's election campaign.

Yeddyurappa had to resign as the chief minister over corruption charges against him and his kin.

source:http://indiatoday.intoday.in

Bangalore:

The Karnataka High Court on Monday ordered issue of emergent notices to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and state PCC chief G Parameshwara

on a petition seeking a probe into alleged collection of funds from party members seeking tickets for the May 5 state Assembly polls.

Justice Abdul Nazeer ordered issue of notices also to the Election Commission and state Chief Electoral Officer on the plea by V Shashidhar, who, claiming to be a Congress worker and a

ticket aspirant, alleged Rs 10,000 each had been collected from such aspirants.

The petitioner's advocate, G R Mohan, prayed for a writ of mandamus to EC to formulate proper guidelines and procedures to prevent funds collection for the polls by political parties, specially Congress president and PCC chief.

He also sought a direction to the EC to consider the representation of the petitioner for holding a probe by the CBI or a Special Investigation Team into the matter.

In his interim prayer, the petitioner sought an interim order by the High Court to direct the EC to seize the amount allegedly collected so far by the KPCC chief.

"They have no authority of law to collect a sum of Rs 10,000 from each of its members for the Assembly Elections 2013. The total amount collected from about 2,500 members, may be more than Rs 2 crore," he claimed.

The counsel submitted that the petitioner, along with other applicants for the Assembly tickets, were required to pay Rs 10,000 each for the constituency from where they wished to contest as "party fund".

The petitioner had remitted the sum by demand draft for which a receipt was issued by the KPCC President, he said.

Bangalore, April 8, 2013

The State BJP on Monday launched its election campaign for the May 5 Assembly polls sans its Delhi leaders as the chartered plane in which they were coming to Bangalore developed a technical snag.

But there was no dearth of spirited speeches by the State leaders to either attack the UPA government on corruption issue or for seeking votes for their party candidates.

The BJP leaders tried their best to play down corruption charges the party is facing and also infighting witnessed in the recent times. They said they were looking ahead at taking the State to the Number One position in development in the country if given a second term.

The convention, which was attended by thousands of people at the Palace Grounds, marked the culmination of various Vijaya Sankalpa Yatras organised by the party in different parts of the State to motivate its workers ahead of the polls.
BJP National President Rajnath Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley were to address the convention. Senior party leader L K Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had already announced that they would not be making it to the convention. While the absence of central leaders did take some sheen of the rally, the party tried to make up by hurriedly arranging Singh to address the well-attended rally via video-conference.

Referring to the removal of B S Yeddyurappa as chief minister over allegations of corruption, Singh admitted that the party had to go through adverse situation. “I want to assure the people that anyone indulging in corruption will not remain in his chair,” he said.

He said despite the political hiccups the party had done well in governance and administration.

He listed interest-free loans to farmers, decentralisation of power by empowering panchayats, rural drinking water schemes, infrastructure development as achievements of the BJP during the last five years.

On their part, the State leaders used all available political tool and emotion to woo voters. The leaders including Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, Party State President Pralhad Joshi, Deputy Chief Ministers K S Eshwarappa and R Ashoka, National General Secretary Ananth Kumar took digs at the furore over issue of party tickets for the Assembly polls in the State Congress, spoke about the alleged “misdeeds and corruption” plaguing  the UPA government and sprinkled their speeches generously by repeated referring to the “achievements” of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Shettar and Ashoka blamed the Congress for stalling the State’s initiative of providing rice at Rs two per kg.

“We had launched the scheme much before the code of conduct came into effect. The Congress played spoilsport by lodging a complaint with the Election Commission. Can such a party ever come to the rescue of the poor,” Shettar asked.

source:http://www.deccanherald.com