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BS Yediyurappa may drop some Lingayat ministers for caste balance

News Network
December 28, 2019

Bengaluru, Dec 28: Chief minister BS Yediyurappa is reportedly looking to rebalance caste equations in his cabinet by dropping some ministers, mostly from the Lingayat community, and bringing in new ones. The changes will be made when he expands his cabinet in January.

The move will help him give proportionate representation to different castes and regions, and also accommodate Congress-JD(S) turncoats who contested the recent bypolls on BJP tickets and won. The latter must be rewarded as they essentially paved the way for BJP to form the government.

There’s no official word on who may be asked to vacate cabinet spots, but some senior BJP functionaries said the names of deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi, home minister Basavaraj Bommai, mines & geology minister CC Patil and women & child welfare minister Shashikala Jolle were being discussed.

Yediyurappa is reportedly also persuading the party bosses in Delhi to consider industries minister and former CM Jagadish Shettar for the governor’s role. About 12 states, including Karnataka, are due to get new governors.

Yediyurappa’s cabinet currently has 18 members. The sanctioned strength, including the chief minister, is 34. There is a crowded field of those looking to get in. These include the newly elected legislators. Disqualified MLA R Shankar is also eyeing a place, though he lost in the byelections.

With eight ministers, Lingayats are well represented in the cabinet. There are concerns that the community might get outsized representation if more members are inducted. If hopefuls Srimanth Patil, Mahesh Kumathalli, BC Patil and Umesh Katti are sworn in, the number will rise to 12. The BJP functionaries said Yediyurappa was seriously considering dropping at least two existing Lingayat ministers to make room for others.

“This possibility [12 Lingayat ministers] will create a caste imbalance and upset ministerial aspirants. Then there’s the issue of regions. Belagavi will have six ministers if Katti is inducted and Haveri will have three if Shankar is inducted without dropping anybody,” a senior BJP politician said. “The only way to ensure balance is to drop a few ministers.”

Jolle might get to stay on as she is the only female in the cabinet. Savadi, too, could escape unscathed as he is the party high command’s pick. There are some differences: CM wants to induct 11 new MLAs and Shankar, but the party wants to accommodate eight new legislators and give other spots to BJP loyalists.

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News Network
February 2,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 2: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday said that the cabinet expansion would take place on February 6, with 13 MLAs taking oath of office. “The cabinet expansion will take place on February 6 with the oath-taking ceremony at the Raj Bhavan at 10.30 AM,” he told reporters in Bengaluru.

Thirteen MLAs, including 10 who had joined BJP from parties, including Congress and the JD(S), will take oath, he said. The cabinet expansion is on the cards for nearly two months ever since the BJP won the maximum number of seats in the December 5 2019 bypolls and got a majority in the Karnataka assembly.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 17,2020

Bengaluru, May 17: At least 54 new COVID-19 positive cases have emerged since last evening, raising Karnataka's tally to 1,146, a health official said today.

Among the 1,146 cases, 611 are active and isolated in designated hospitals across the state, 497 patients got discharged and 37 died of the virus.

Of the new cases, Mandya district alone reported 22 cases, followed by 10 in Kalaburgi, 6 in Hassan, 4 in Dharward, 3 each in Kolar and Yadgir, 2 each in Dakshina Kannada and Shivamogga and 1 each in Udupi and Shivamogga.

New Cases Reported: 54
Total Active Cases: 611
Total Discharges: 497
Total Covid Deaths: 37
Death of Covid +ve patient due to Non-Covid cause: 1
Total Positive Cases: 1146

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coastaldigest.com news network
February 20,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 20: Leaving the organisers of an event to protest against the CAA, NRC and NRP here red-faced, a young woman on Thursday reportedly raised "Pakistan Zindabad" slogan in the presence of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, who denounced her action and asserted "we are for India".

The woman, identified as Amulya, allegedly asked people to shout with her "Pakistan Zindabad" after the organisers of the event under the banner of "Save Constitution" invited her to address the gathering soon after Owaisi came on the stage.

Soon Owaisi rushed to snatch the mike from her hands and was joined by others who tried to remove her from the state.

But the woman was adamant and raised the slogan again repeatedly. Later, the police stepped in and removed her from the dais.

Owaisi then addressed the gathering, saying he did not agree with the woman.

"Neither me nor my party has any link with her. We denounce her. The organisers should not have invited her here. If I knew this, I would not have come here. We are for India and we no way support our enemy nation Pakistan. Our entire drive is to save India," the AIMIM MP said.

JD(S) corporator Imran Pasha claimed she was planted by some rival group to disrupt the event.

The woman, he said, was not in the list of speakers and demanded that the police investigate the matter seriously.

Sources say Amulya hails from Chikkamagaluru and her parents have always been in the forefront of taking on government and its policies for well over a decade. 

As per local TV reports, the student was taken to Upparpet police station, but later shifted to an undisclosed destination for more questioning.

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