R ASHOKA

Karnataka BJP demands Siddaramaiah’s resignation amidst Valmiki scam investigation and soaring prices

The Congress government in Karnataka has been accused of playing politics with the chief minister and deputy CM posts, leading to fuel and milk price hikes and scams in government departments. Opposition leader R Ashoka has called for the CM to resign, accusing him of "eating 80% of the funds." The scam broke out after a KMVSTDC officer committed suicide over alleged corruption.

Third Eye: YSRCP's support for Om Birla, the 'emergency boy,' and good friends in Parliament

In recent political developments, the support extended to Om Birla for the post of Speaker by four YSRCP MPs has stirred tensions within the TDP.Meanwhile, BJP organised events across Karnataka on Wednesday, commemorating the challenges its leaders faced during the Emergency imposed 49 years ago. Additionally, the surprising camaraderie between Union Minister Anupriya Patel and NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule, despite their positions in opposing political factions, underscores a rare instance of bipartisan friendship in Parliament.

Congress’ Praveen Chakravarty backtracks over criticism of Karnataka government hiring BCG, issues apology for “private opinion”

AICC leader Praveen Chakravarty on Friday apologised for his post on social media platform X, criticising Karnataka Congress government's decision to hire the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to help with suggestions to boost state revenue. Chakravarty, chairman of Professionals' Congress & Data Analytics, had faced backlash from his party after his dig at the government was echoed by the opposition BJP.

Siddaramaiah blames GST regime for taxes on autofuel, even as BJP takes out bullock-cart protest

CM Siddaramaiah blames GST regime for fuel price hike, leading to protests by BJP leaders. Petrol price in Bengaluru now Rs 102.84, diesel Rs 88.95.

Defence stocks have done it, will the infrastructure sector follow suit? 6 stocks of the highway makers

There are four sectors, Railways, Defence, Infrastructure and PSU as a set of stocks where election results were important due to the fact that policy continuity was seen as major tailwinds. Because the results were not exactly the way the street had expected, there was a sharp reaction in all these stocks after the election results. But within ten days, the majority of the defence stocks are already higher than what they were quoting on the day of elections. The question is whether other sectors also will see a catch up or not. Now there cannot be any doubt that political noise levels are going to remain high and that might create uncertainty at times. It might take a while for some of the sectors to get the momentum back on the street but probability of getting back on track is high as and when the street gets an indication that it is work as usual in the sector.

Karnataka fuel price hike: 'Congress taking revenge from public...', accuses LoP R Ashoka

Guarantee schemes not for political gains: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah reaffirmed his government's dedication to implementing the Congress party's guarantee schemes, countering the BJP's criticism and emphasizing the schemes' non-political intent.

Non-inclusion of Dalits/OBCs from Karnataka exposed BJP’s ‘concern’ for communities, says Siddaramaiah

Siddaramaiah's comments came a day after Home Minister G Parameshwara, a Dalit leader himself, slammed the Centre for “neglecting” backward classes and Dalit communities while picking MPs from the state for the union council of ministers.

After poll setback, Siddaramaiah says guarantees won’t stop as they were not designed for political gains

The CM said it was the BJP’s wish that the guarantee programmes should bankrupt the state, but that wish would not become a reality.

BJP cries foul as Karnataka bans Hamare Barah on plea from Muslim outfits

The State Government banned the screening of the Hindi movie Hamare Barah due to concerns raised by Muslim organisations. The film, directed by Kamal Chandra, explores themes of over-population in the Muslim community and women's health risks.

Infrastructure stocks: With more clarity a stronger round of re-rating in Modi 3.0? 7 infra stock with upside potential of up to 33%

Couple of months back PM Modi had mentioned his priorities of Modi 3.0. The first word which was used was infrastructure and then subsequently others. There should not be any surprise given the fact that even in the last ten years, infrastructure has been a priority. What has changed is that in the first five years, it was the clean up of the books and debt which was taking place. In the next five it was both, lowering debt, higher order book and now with books much better placed, much less litigation, now when the order book gets bigger as the focus on infrastructure continues the increase is likely to be more visible in margins and that increases the probability of even a strong and sustained rating. We take a look at infrastructure makers, which is very different from infrastructure owners. Though in some cases, these companies also have some projects where they have stakes.

Infrastructure stocks: Stay bullish, hedge to participate in next round of re-rating: 6 infra stock with an upside potential of up to 39%

Among the sectors which have seen a strong re-rating in the last five years, probably infrastructure is amongst the top ones. Like many other sectors here also the re-rating has been largely due to policy push and government spending. If one looks at the performance of the companies in the last five years, there has been clearly strong growth across the board. So, policy continuity becomes critical for this sector and the stocks. The

Pure domestic growth story: 7 stocks from road construction and infrastructure sector with potential upside of up to 37%

Road construction and infrastructure as a sector first came to light close to 25 years back, when then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, kicked off the building of road projects with the aim to join north to south and east to west part of India. After getting off the good started, somewhere in the middle, road construction and infrastructure building got entangled in different issues, Land acquisition to banks issue and many more. Around 10 years back when the current government came to power, the first area of focus was road construction and very soon things began to change. Given the scope of improvement, it is a sector which will grow for the next two decades or even more, the only condition, policy stability. Probably road construction is a sector, where the opposition ruled state and central government has maximum coordination, the reason road infrastructure is one sector which is both economically and politically earning accretive.

Tailwinds of coordination between central and state governments: 7 companies from road construction and infrastructure sector

While government policy impacts every sector in one way or another, there are some sectors where government policy is the most important factor both for growth and survival. Why it is important, because all of the spending in that sector is done by the government, it could be central or the state government. At first, it was the central government, but if one looks at how important it has become for gaining political capital, every state government has been focusing on road and highway construction. The impact of a coordinated effort between state and central government is that the lead time for the construction of roads comes down very sharply. This has a positive impact on the bottomline of the companies, right from lower requirement of working capital to higher turnover in terms of companies being able to securitize their assets to other players or private equity funds and move on to take on other projects leading to higher growth in bottomline.

Bengaluru water crisis: BJP releases pictures to prove Congress released Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu

The CM had, on Tuesday, asserted that the state could only release water to its neighbour if it had any in the first place. “BJP is alleging that water is being released to Tamil Nadu; it is a lie. Even if Tamil Nadu asks or the Centre tells us to release water, we'll not do so,” he had said.

75th Republic-Day parade: Awe-evoking acrobatics-filled Indian Air Force's fly-past dazzles spectators

Spectators were dazzled with the scintillating air show that served as the grand finale of the 'Platinum Republic Day' function. It comprised of 54 aircraft including three from the French Air and Space Force, 46 from the Indian Air Force, one from the Indian Navy and four helicopters from the Indian Army.

Awarding of road projects remains weak in the first nine months of FY24

​​December was the third month after April and May where not a single project was awarded. Given the sluggish trend, analysts expect that NHAI may fall short of achieving the target of awarding 6,000 km for FY24. In such a case, FY24 may be the second consecutive fiscal year to show a drop in projects awarding. In FY23, NHAI awarded 6003 km of road projects, a year-on-year fall of 4.8%.

Video of CM's son is proof of cash for posting scam: BJP mounts attack on Cong govt

Referring to the viral video, the former deputy Chief Minister R Ashoka said it is a "confirmation" that there is "transfer business" (cash for postings) going on in the state. Ashoka said he would raise the matter in the Karnataka Assembly during the winter session in Belagavi, slated to begin on December 4.

Former Dy CM R Ashoka elected Opposition leader in Karnataka

Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai proposed his name, while other MLAs endorsed the choice.

Karnataka Deputy CM Shivakumar says he will retire from politics if it is proved he took commission

Hitting out at former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and former minister R Ashoka for accusing him of collecting commission, he said he sought to know whether the two BJP leaders would resign if their allegations prove false.

BJP charges Congress govt in Karnataka with 'collecting funds' for Lok Sabha polls

Speaking to reporters, the former Deputy Chief Minister said the "prediction" made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the campaigning for the May Assembly elections that the Congress will use Karnataka like its ATM has come true.

Key BJP candidates to watch out for in the 2023 Karnataka assembly polls

BJP gave chances to over 50 new faces in its list of 224 candidates for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls, resulting in the denial of tickets to some senior leaders of the party, including Jagadish Shettar, Laxman Savadi, and others who ultimately quit the party and joined the Congress to get the ticket. Here's a list of some of the BJP candidates whose fates will be closely watched in this assembly election in Karnataka.

Karnataka elections 2023: UP CM Yogi to campaign for BJP candidate R Ashoka

According to party sources, UP CM Yogi is expected to hold a public rally in support of BJP candidate from Kanakpura seat. They said that Yogi is likely to hold multiple public rallies in favour of BJP candidates. A date of the same is however not confirmed yet.