Invoking the name of Narendra Modi, a mellowed B S Yeddyurappa is fighting a critical electoral battle of his career from Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency to re-establish his dominance within BJP and state politics.

In his second bid to enter Parliament from Shimoga after the failed attempt in 1991, Yeddyurappa is leaving nothing to chance though his rivals from JDS and Congress are greenhorns.

Congress and JDS are using the weapon of corruption against Yeddyurappa, whose name is often invoked by BJP’s opponents at the national level to deflate the party’s anti- graft plank.

Yeddyurappa, who has often made it clear that he was not keen on entering the arena but the party, persuaded him to do so, is invoking the name of Narendra Modi, saying his wave is here as elsewhere.

71-year-old Yeddyurappa is facing a serious challenge from JDS’ Githa Shivarajkumar, former Chief Minister late S Bangarappa’s daughter, who has described herself as “clean and fresh” candidate.

His Congress rival is a newcomer and a young party worker Manjunath Bhandari who was office bearer in KPCC at Bangalore. His candidature has left a bitter taste in the local unit, particularly with Kumar Bangarappa, son of Bangarappa, who had also tried for the ticket to contest the elections.

Shimoga seat was held by Yeddyurappa’s son B Y Raghavendra and the leader with the pan state appeal was persuaded by his party to contest the Lok Sabha polls, hoping his presence would prove beneficial to BJP. He had played spoilsport to BJP in the 2013 Assembly polls when he secured 10 per cent vote share for his Karnataka Janatha Party (KJP).

After having re-entered BJP with hard bargaining and good deal of compromise, Yeddyurappa is now trying to find his space within the organisation despite his four-decade-old association that ended when he walked out to float KJP. In this backdrop, the battle now is crucial for him.

He is seeking votes on the basis of his performance as Chief Minister, heading the first-ever BJP government in the South which went into a self-destruct mode with open infighting and corruption charges against several ministers, some even landing in jail.

He is aided by a well-oiled party machinery manned by the strong cadre base which is carrying out a well-organised campaign and his RSS background from the age of 15 standing him in good stead in organisation and management.

Building BJP in Karnataka, Yeddyurappa had crafted his political ascent that brought him the Chief Minister’s post which he lost in July 2011 after the party directed him to resign after the Lokayukta report indicted him on corruption charge linked to illegal mining.

Taking West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee head on, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi accused her of playing votebank politics and said no real ‘parivartan’ (change) has taken place in the state during TMC rule.

“When the government changed in Bengal, I thought there would be development. But nothing has happened. They are only indulging in votebank politics,” Mr. Modi told an election rally in Siliguri.

“Unless she criticises Modi, her food does not get digested,” Mr. Modi said in a sharp attack attack on Ms Banerjee, who has been hitting out at him in most of her public rallies, terming him communal and also blaming him for the Gujarat riots.

Mr. Modi’s address was in contrast to his earlier speech in Kolkata in February when he had gone soft on Ms Banerjee and had even asked the people to have “Didi in Bengal and BJP in Delhi”.

“It’s been two years since the new government took charge, but have you seen any parivartan? People have been cheated. If you have a strong and progressive-minded government in Delhi, every small thing will fall in place,” he said.

“You have seen fake parivartan, now it’s time to see the real parivartan,” Mr. Modi said.

“Mukyamantriji, aap jitne kichar uchaloge, utna jyada kamal khilega (Madam Chief Minister, the more you indulge in mudslinging, the more will the lotus bloom),” Mr. Modi said.

Mr. Modi also criticised the party on the issue of multicrore Saradha chitfund scam, and said “they must be punished.

“Those who have indulged in loot in such a short span of time, what will they do if they get more time and opportunity?” he asked in an indirect reference to allegations of involvement of some Trinamool Congress leaders in the scam.

National Conference (NC) President and Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Dr Farooq Abdulla’s age has increased by 11 years within a period of five years. This is not a joke, but the truth as the affidavit filed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah before the Returning Officer Srinagar on April 7 has mentioned his age as 77 years.

But the affidavit which was filed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah in December 2008 for the assembly elections from Hazratbal had shown his age as 66 years. Now the question is whether his age is 71 years or 77 years.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has demanded that his candidature be cancelled for lying before the election authorities. In a written complaint filed before the Returning Officer Srinagar the Aam Aadmi Party has asked the election authorities to intervene into this matter and has requested the authorities to cancel his candidature.

In a bid to help villagers get access to clean water, HDFC ERGO, a general and health insurance company, has introduced ‘water ATMs’ in a village in Uttar Pradesh.
Similar to a cash dispensing ATM machine, this set up installed in Seengha village in Bijnor district, will dispense pure water. Using these machines, villagers can get 1 litre pure water in 30 paise.
HDFC ERGO took the initiative of introducing these ATMs in partnership with ‘Sarvajal’ NGO as a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility.
Both identified Seengha village as the beginning point because they found that villagers here had installed pumps on their own to get water and they were heavily dependent on hand pumps installed by the government for meeting their water needs.
While Sarvajal is ensuring continuous supply of water and maintenance of water ATM sites, HDFC ERGO manages everything else.
Earlier, HDFC ERGO and Sarvajal had together implemented the concept successfully in Rajasthan. Their first pilot project was presented in Peeth village in Dungarpur area of Rajasthan in October last year.

Everyone whom one befriends on Facebook may not have the friendliest intentions. Sangeeta Negi from Dehradun’s Dharampur learnt this the hard way when a girl she befriended on the social networking site, allegedly stole half a lakh rupees worth of jewellery from her.
According to a report, Sangeeta got a friend request from a girl named Jyoti who claimed to be from Delhi and befriended her. The two started talking and a while later, Jyoti reached Sangeeta’s house saying that she has come to Dehradun to meet an ailing relative.
Jyoti stayed at Sangeeta’s house for over a week, during which time Sangeeta had to leave the house to attend a wedding. On her return, she found that the jewellery from her cupboard was missing. When she asked Jyoti, she accepted that she had taken them. Sangeeta claimed that Jyoti even asked her if she could take it with her to Delhi but she refused.
Later, on March 26, Jyoti came to Sangeeta’s house once again and said that she needs to leave that same evening. After Jyoti left Sangeeta once again found her jewellery missing. After this Sangeeta registered a complaint at a police station in Nehru Colony.
“A police team has been sent to Delhi to look for the accused,” an officer told Punjab Kesari.
Sangeeta said that she does not have much information about Jyoti but has given the police Jyoti’s facebook ID which is being used for investigation. However the police say that they suspect that the ID is fake.