Johnson T.A.

The investigations have found that Parshuram Ashok Wagmare was given training in firing guns in Karnataka and Maharashtra before being chosen to carry out the Lankesh murder.

A Special Investigation Team, probing the murder, submitted a statement from Wagmare admitting his involvement in the shooting of Gauri Lankesh.

Investigations have found that a Bengaluru-based co-ordinator of HJS, Mohan Gowda, allegedly put key accused, K T Naveen Kumar, in touch with this Sanstha unit in the planning phase of the Lankesh murder.

HD Kumaraswamy will be in charge of key portfolios such as Finance, Energy, Intelligence and Infrastructure development, while his elder brother H D Revanna has been given charge of the Public Works Department.

The report, which was attached to the chargesheet filed by the SIT in the Lankesh murder case, is the first official indication by any government agency of the linkages between the two murders.

Despite consistent denials by Sanatan Sanstha and its affiliate, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), of any association with the accused in the murder case, there has been an increasing amount of circumstantial links between the groups and arrested people.

The Congress, which has got 22 of the 34 cabinet berths, has attempted to balance caste equations keeping in mind its support base in the backward castes, Dalits and minorities.

Fearing dissent within the party on account of a lack of leadership at the state level since the May 12 Assembly elections, the expansion exercise is being carried out under direct supervision of party president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi.

Maintaining notes on surveillance, using fake names and feature phones and multiple SIM cards and handsets — here's what the four men arrested in connection with the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh did to hide their identities.

The alliance partners also announced a plan to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as a Congress-JDS coalition, with decisions on seat-sharing and other issues to be taken at poll time.

A fourth person, Sujeet Kumar alias Praveen, 37, from Karnataka, also arrested in the Bhagwan case and already named as an accused in the Gauri Lankesh murder, was also formally named by the SIT as an accused.

Gauri Lankesh murder: The sketch of a map, suspected to indicate the street and neighbourhood where Lankesh was murdered, has been found in the diary of one of the four, police sources told The Indian Express.

The SIT conducted searches at over eight places in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa on May 22 leading to the discovery of key evidence.

Under pressure over farm loans in Karnataka and on the day that the Opposition BJP called for a state-wide bandh, HD Kumaraswamy suggested that he could not waive farmer loans because of opposition from his alliance partner.

Besides loan waiver, another contentious issue in the new coalition is the claim over the Finance portfolio, with both Kumaraswamy and the Congress staking claim.

A hung House and a series of dramatic events have seen the JD(S) take over the reins of the government in Karnataka in alliance with the Congress. JOHNSON T A looks at how the Gowdas, till recently on the precipice of irrelevance, now see a chance to resurrect the party

Seeking the trust vote in the Assembly, Kumaraswamy said he was now a much more mature politician than what he was 10 years ago when he was chief minister of Karnataka for the first time.

The Assembly will on Friday conduct an election to pick a new Speaker before the vote of confidence is tabled. The Congress has nominated former speaker K R Ramesh Kumar as its candidate.

G Parameshwara, the state Congress chief and the party’s Dalit face, was sworn in as Deputy CM at the grand event, which was attended by five chief ministers — Mamata Banerjee, Chandrababu Naidu, Arvind Kejriwal, Narayanswamy and Pinarayi Vijayan.