BJP’s poll strategy is telling lies and instigating communal sentiments: CM

New Delhi, Apr 15: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday urged the government to organise flights to bring back Indian workers stuck in the Middle East and desperate to return.

He said the workers are in deep distress there due to shutting of businesses in the Middle East due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The Covid19 crisis and shutting of businesses in the Middle East have left thousands of Indian workers in deep distress and desperate to return home.

"The Government must organise flights to bring home our brothers and sisters most in need of assistance, with quarantine plans in place," he said on Twitter.

Bengaluru, Jan 7: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday said the much-awaited cabinet expansion will take place in about a week to 10 days and that he wants to complete the exercise before his proposed visit to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum meet later this month.

"Cabinet expansion has to be done in a week or 8-10 days. There is also information that Amit Shah will be coming to Bengaluru on January 16 or 18. Before that I will go to Delhi and get things cleared and will expand the cabinet at the earliest," Mr Yediyurappa said.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said he wanted to complete the exercise before his Davos visit.

"I will make all efforts to expand the cabinet before that," he said.

With Mr Yediyurappa making it clear that 11 of the disqualified JDS-Congress MLAs who got re-elected in the December 5 bypolls on BJP tickets will be made ministers, lobbying has been on within the party for the remaining ministerial berths.

Currently, there are 18 ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the cabinet that has a sanctioned strength of 34.

Cabinet expansion will not be an easy task for the Chief Minister as he will have to strike a balance by accommodating the victorious disqualified legislators as promised and also make space for the old guards, upset at being "neglected" in the first round of the induction exercise.

He also has to give adequate representation to various castes and regions in his cabinet and also deal with the allocation of key portfolios.

The Chief Minister, who has indicated that the ministry expansion may take place any time after Sankranti, is likely to travel to Davos on January 20, according to sources.

BS Yediyurappa, along with Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Mansukh Mandaviya, as well as Chief Ministers Amarinder Singh, Kamal Nath, are expected to join over 100 Indian CEOs at Davos in Switzerland later this month for the WEF's 50th annual meeting, which will be attended by thousands from across the globe.

Mysuru, Mar 6: A BJP worker was stabbed to death by unidentified persons at his apartment in Mysore in the early hours of Friday, police said.

Anand in his early thirties, was reportedly attacked with a broken beer bottle shortly after he returned home following his late night birthday party, police added.

Following information from neighbours in the apartment, police rushed to the spot and recovered the body.

"The murder took place between 3 am and 4 am. We are investigating who was with him at the time and what was the motive behind the killing," Mysuru police Commissioner Dr Chandragupta told reporters.

Police said further investigations are on to ascertain the motive and people behind the killing.