DK SP warns communal forces after attack on Muslim rickshaw drivers

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.

Bengaluru, May 25: Helpless dairy farmers in a village in Bangaluru Rural district have dumped around 4,000 litres of milk into drains and on anthills.

The shocking incident took place at Chikka Korati near Hoskote yesterday after the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) refused to collect the milk because a pregnant woman in the village had tested positive for Covid-19.

The village was sealed off three days ago and three of the woman’s family was sent to institutional quarantine. The incident is an embarrassment since the government has been urging people not to stigmatise patients or their contacts.

“In Hoskote taluk, we lead in milk production,” Guru Korati, a villager, said. “There are around 130 families in the village, but we have two milk producers’ cooperative societies (MPCSs) – Chikka Korati MPCS and Dinne Korati MPCS. Our village produces more than 4,000 litres per day. The KMF refused to collect milk from both societies after they learnt about the positive case. Frustrated, we poured the milk down the drain.”

Guru wanted the government to address the village’s problems. “We are not only struggling to sell milk, but we also cannot transport vegetables which we cultivate,” he said.

Veerabhadrappa, from Chikka Korati in Bayala Narasapura gram panchayat, said: “Several families have cows enough to yield more than 50 litres of milk. What will they do with such a huge quantity of milk?”

Mehaboob Sab, panchayat development officer (PDO) of Bayala Narasapura GP, said, “We aren’t sure how the woman contracted Covid-19. A family member had visited Tamil Nadu and the woman also frequently visited a hospital in Kolar for checkups. We are still tracing her contacts.” 

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 1: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said that the resolution passed by the Kerala Assembly is against the "unconstitutional Act passed by the Centre".

"The resolution passed by Kerala Assembly is against the unconstitutional Act passed by the Centre. It has been noticed by the whole country," Vijayan said.

The Kerala Assembly had on Tuesday passed a resolution seeking withdrawal of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

Before the resolution was passed against the Act, Vijayan in a special Assembly session targeted RSS and said that citizenship law is part of an agenda.

"The CAA is part of an agenda. Muslims are being considered as internal enemies by RSS, who is controlling the ruling dispensation at the Centre," he alleged.

The new law grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday while talking about women safety, the Chief Minister said, "Those women, who are traveling face many problems, particularly regarding accommodation. To address this, government will start accommodation facilities in all towns. This project will be implemented with the help of local bodies."

Reacting to the development in the Kerala Assembly, BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that Assembly has insulted the Constitution and parliament by passing a resolution seeking withdrawal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

"The Constitution has delineated clearly the roles of parliament and state legislatures. When people who have taken an oath of the constitution, destroy it, it is a most irresponsible act. Both the houses of parliament have passed CAA and if a state assembly tries to hijack the Act it is an insult not only of the constitution but the parliament as well," Naqvi told news agency.