Just like his political strategies, there has been no clarity on the constituency from where Janasena president Pawan Kalyan would be contesting the 2019 general elections. Pawan and other Janasena leaders are giving contradictory statements in this regard and they are leaving the fans and cadre in confusion.

Janasena Party’s In-charge Muttamsetty Krishna Rao today said that Pawan Kalyan is planning to contest the 2019 elections from Avanigadda, Krishna district. Krishna Rao further said that Pawan will be strengthening the party in the Krishna region.

In the past, there were reports that Pawan Kalyan will contest the 2019 Assembly elections from Eluru. Later, Pawan himself had announced that he will contest from Anantapur. There were also rumors that he will contest either from Tirupati or Palakollu.

All said and done, Janasena activists not quite happy with these u-turns. With less than a year to remaining for the ballot battle, they are waiting for an official announcement from Pawan Kalyan himself.

In a huge setback to the beleaguered business magnate Vijay Mallya, who allegedly committed a massive financial fraud and fled to the UK where he is a citizen, has lost a UK lawsuit filed by the Indian banks. Indian banks had filed a UK lawsuit against Mallya seeking to collect more than 1.55 Billion USD (over Rs 10,000 Crore) from him.

In a landmark ruling, a British High Court judge ruled that an Indian judgment against Mallya can legally be enforced against his assets in England and Wales. Judge Andrew Henshaw on Tuesday (May 8, 2018) said the lenders, including IDBI Bank Ltd., can enforce an Indian court ruling that relates to the allegations that Mallya willfully defaulted on about 1.4 billion USD (over Rs 9000 Crore).  Meanwhile, the judge Henshaw also refused to overturn a worldwide order freezing Mallya’s assets.

The British judge ruled the judgment dating January 19, 2017 of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), Karnataka, Bengaluru, which states that Mallya owes the banks Rs 6,203 crore plus interest (Rs 9,863 crore as of Nov 22, 2017), can now legally be registered in England.  Mallya’s debt is for his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.

The lawyers for Vijay Mallya have declined to comment after the ruling. With this, a consortium of 13 state-owned Indian banks led by the State Bank of India, is expected to move things swiftly.

62-year-old Vijay Mallya is facing numerous allegations of fraud, money laundering. He has been considered as fugitive. Mallya had left India in 2016, and hasn’t returned ever since. He said he fears an unfair trial amid the “media frenzy and hysteria” over unpaid debts. Mallya has also said government agencies are pursuing a “heavily biased investigation” and “holding him guilty without trial”.

Making his ambition for the Prime Minister post known, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said he is ready to occupy the prime minister’s post if Congress emerges as the “biggest” party in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Responding to a question if he would be the next prime minister by media in his interaction in Bengaluru, Rahul Gandhi said, “Well, it depends….it depends on how well the Congress does in the election….I mean, if it emerges as the biggest party, yes.”

However, this is not the first time Rahul has revealed his ambition for the topmost executive post. In an interaction at the Berkley University in the US in September last year, Gandhi had said he was “absolutely ready” to be the prime ministerial candidate of the Congress in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Amid the cut and thrust of the Karnataka Assembly polls, Gandhi said he is “pretty confident” that Narendra Modi would not be the next prime minister, and if the Congress acts as a “platform” (with other parties in a coalition), the BJP does not stand a chance of winning the elections.

Rahul said the opposition unity would not allow the BJP to remain in power. Gandhi asserted the Congress would win the Assembly polls in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Actress Madhavi Latha, who has just joined BJP, started her ‘politics’. First she targeted seasoned politician AP CM Chandrababu Naidu and second she stated her favourite actor and politician Pawan Kalyan could forge an alliance with the BJP in 2019 polls. Madhavi’s political comments have already turned fodder for trolls online.

Madhavi Latha has targeted Chandrababu in her first-ever attack. She accused Chandrababu Naidu of not showing accounts for the “funds” disbursed by the Centre. She even alleged involvement of corruption in Polavaram Irrigation Project. Madhavi alleged that AP state government has submitted bill of Rs 5 Lakh for a lorry full of sand. She took potshots at Chandrababu and blamed him for changing his words on the Special Category Status. She claimed that BJP has disbursed funds to AP when Naidu asked for financial assistance instead of the Special Category Status.

She continued to express her ‘unconditional’ affection on Pawan Kalyan and Janasena. She said she liked the way Pawan Kalyan is ‘questioning’ and hence supports him and Janasena. When asked why didn’t she join Janasena, she said she liked the ideology of BJP.

Further to her above statements, Madhavi Latha expressed her interest to contest in elections in 2019. She said she is willing to contest from any constituency if party orders her to contest. What’s more? Madhavi Latha states her ambition to work for the BJP in national level. She said she will campaign for the party anywhere in the entire country.

Many in online have dubbed Madhavi’s comments as ‘amateurish’ and attacked BJP for roping in actors to counter TDP and Chandrababu who had quit NDA.

Actor Prakash Raj, who has been voicing his opinion without mincing any words, responded on the political entry of his colleague Pawan Kalyan and his political outfit Janasena.

Cautioning Pawan Kalyan, Prakash Raj asked him to be careful about the ‘defected’ politicians who are ‘opportunists’. Prakash welcomed Pawan’s move to join politics, but said he couldn’t start a political party like Pawan. Prakash Raj said he would confine himself to questioning and question anyone who is in the government and anyone who is doing any wrong. He said right now he is questioning Modi government. Prakash Raj said even he has began politics, but he said he would never contest as MP or MLA. He said he will continue to bring awareness among people.

Talking about Pawan Kalyan, Prakash Raj said Pawan is a straight-forwarded person. He said Pawan has huge popularity and many would join his party seeing his fame. However, Prakash asked Pawan to be mindful about the people joining his party as they could even bring down his party.

Since Prakash Raj and Pawan Kalyan acted in blockbuster film Badri and shared screen space together in the roles of Nanda and Badri respectively, Prakash Raj’s comments on Pawan’s political entry gained significance.

Modi Won’t Win in 2019

Meanwhile, Prakash Raj continued his no-holds-barred attack on Narendra Modi. He said Modi won’t win in 2019 elections. He said BJP and Modi won’t win anywhere be it in Karnataka or Telangana or AP or Tamil Nadu or in Delhi. Prakash Raj expressed his caring for the women, children and minorities in UP, Haryana and Rajasthan, Prakash Raj said how BJP is using ‘Hindu’ factor to gain votes. Differing with the BJP, Prakash Raj said BJP’s idea of Hinduism is different than that of Hindu Dharma.

“Fake News” is the latest thing that is disturbing social media as a lot of unverified publications come up with unverified stories. Sometimes they attribute particular story to a top media or publishing house, making everyone believe that the news is true.

The fake news has gone to such an extent that recently some media folks published few election-surveys in Karnataka state and attributed it to none other than the Indian wing of world famous news network, BBC. They stated that Congress-JDS is going to clean sweep Karnataka this time and that’s BBC says. What is the truth anyway?

“A fake survey on Karnataka polls has been circulating on Whats App and claims to be from BBC News. We’d like to make absolutely clear that it’s a #fake and does not come from the BBC. The BBC does not commission pre-election surveys in India. #fakenews” read a tweet from the official handle of BBC India.

Talking about the same, many say that political parties are employing guerilla teams that work in an ad-hoc manner on social media in order to promote some speculations. And today they are not even sparing a respected media house like BBC too.