The BJP government in Karnataka led by B S Yediyurappa, in office for just three days, won a confidence vote in the reduced state Assembly on Monday. The motion was carried by voice vote in a proceeding that took less than an hour, and Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar announced his resignation shortly afterwards. The numbers The disqualification of 17 rebel MLAs had cut the effective strength of the House and left the BJP comfortably placed, so the opposition Congress and JD(S) did not demand a division. The Speaker declaredRead More

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to attend a meeting of the BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir core group in New Delhi on Tuesday, sources said. Senior party leaders, including party chief Amit Shah, were to discuss the political situation in the state and the party’s preparation for assembly elections, whenever they are called. Who was attending According to the sources, the participants were to include the party’s national working president J P Nadda, Union minister Jitendra Singh, general secretary Ram Madhav and Ravinder Raina, who heads the state unit, asRead More

K R Ramesh Kumar, who gave up the Karnataka assembly Speaker’s post on Monday, said in Hyderabad that leaving the post had left him feeling liberated. “I resigned so I should get liberated. I am now free from all shackles,” he said. Why he quit Kumar announced his resignation right after the House passed the confidence motion in favour of B S Yediyurappa and cleared the Appropriation Bill. He cut short a speech by D K Shivakumar, explaining that he had to reach Hyderabad for the last rites of JaipalRead More

The road crash that left the Unnao rape survivor critically injured and killed two of her aunts caused uproar in the Lok Sabha. Opposition members put the government on the defensive, insisting that the Home Minister reply in the House. Uproar over the Unnao crash The BJP said it was wrong to turn the incident into a political issue. It in turn targeted the Samajwadi Party, claiming that the truck involved in the crash belonged to one of that party’s leaders. Triple Talaq Bill in the Upper House The RajyaRead More

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray was due in Kolkata on Tuesday evening for talks with Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal. They were expected to discuss, and set in motion, a large campaign questioning whether Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) can be trusted. The visit Thackeray’s personal assistant, Harshal Deshpande, said the MNS chief would reach Kolkata that evening, had official engagements the following day, and was scheduled to meet “Didi” on August 1. A senior Trinamool Congress MLA welcomed the visit and said the talks withRead More