Periscope: Karnataka polls, PM to campaign in Himachal, and more

PM Modi will address a public meeting in Himachal Pradesh in the first week of November

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will kick off its 75-day “Nava Karnataka Parivarthana Rally” on November 2 from Bengaluru. Elections in Karnataka are due early 2018. The rally will be led by BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, B S Yeddyurappa. BSY will be joined by Union ministers and senior leaders such as Prakash Javdekar, Piyush Goyal, Jagadish Shettar, Eshwarappa, Ananth Kumar, Sadananada Gowda, Ramesh Jigajinagi, Nirmala Sitharaman, Anant Kumar Hedge, besides several MPs, MLAs and MLCs.

A face-to-face conversation

Patidar agitation spearhead Hardik Patel will meet Congress Vice-President on November 3 in Surat during Gandhi’s yatra of the poll-bound state. In this phase, Gandhi will travel to South Gujarat. At a public meeting in Mandal in North Gujarat, Hardik had said, “If BJP is a mahachor, the Congress is a chor. And if a chor’s help is needed to trounce a mahachor, we will do that.”

Modi to campaign in the hills

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public meeting in Himachal Pradesh in the first week of November. Himachal Pradesh leader of Opposition, PK Dhumal, said the state BJP unit had proposed Modi hold a public meeting in Una, the third-largest district of the state. Modi had held a rally in Sujanpur during 2014 parliamentary election. Earlier this month he had addressed a public meeting in Bilaspur. Assembly elections are due on November 9.

A royal visit

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde (pictured) of Belgium will pay a state visit to India from November 5-11. This is the first visit of King Philippe to India following his ascension to the throne in 2013. Belgium was among the first European countries to establish a diplomatic mission in India after Independence. The royal couple will be accompanied by six ministers and a high-powered business delegation comprising CEOs of 86 Belgian companies, 13 chiefs of academic institutions and 29 members from media.