Division will be a loss for both Hindus and Lingayats: Pejawar seer

Bengaluru, Jan 31: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday got the green signal from the BJP central leadership for the much-awaited cabinet expansion in the state and he is mostly likely to induct 11 ministers. Yediyurappa said the date of swearing-in will be decided in a day or two, although he indicated that it would most likely be held on February 3.

Currently, there are 18 ministers, including the chief minister, in the cabinet that has a sanctioned strength of 34. Sixteen berths are vacant. "Many of our suggestions have been accepted by Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda. If there are differences, we will discuss in Bengaluru and finalise it," Yediyurappa told reporters after meeting Shah in the Parliament Complex here.

Except for one or two, most of the disqualified JDS-Congress MLAs who got re-elected in the bypolls on BJP tickets will be made ministers, he said, adding there won't be any additional deputy chief ministers. However, sources said, a total of 11 ministers would be inducted into the cabinet.

"We discussed yesterday and now also. Shah has agreed to almost everything," Yediyurappa said, adding he is returning back "happy" after getting the nod for the cabinet expansion. "I am going happy," he said.

Yediyurappa had been anxiously waiting for the party high command's approval to expand his ministry amid intense lobbying by the aspirants. Opposition parties have been critical of the BJP and Yediyurappa over the delay in the cabinet expansion, alleging he was weak and that his administration had collapsed.

Udupi, Jun 24: Nearly four years after he was arrested in the murder case of NRI entrepreneur Bhaskar Shetty, the District Sessions court has granted conditional interim bail to Niranjan Bhat, one of the three prime accused in the case.

The development comes two days after the death of Niranjan’s father Srinivas Bhat(65). Though Srinivas and his driver Raghavendra were also arrested in the case on the accusation of destruction of evidence, they were released within a month.

Through his lawyer Niranjan had appealed to the court seeking bail to perform his father’s post-death rituals. 

After hearing the arguments, the court granted conditional interim bail till July 7 on furnishing a bond of Rs 5 lakh. The judge directed the accused to report to the court on or before July 7 to be taken into judicial custody.

Bhaskar Shetty, who owned a chain of supermarkets in Saudi Arabia, went missing from his house in Udupi on 28 July 2016. His mother Gulabi Shetty lodged a missing person complaint on July 29. The police arrested his wife Rajeshwari, her son Navaneeth and astrologer Niranjan Bhat on the charge of murdering Bhaskar Shetty and destroying the evidence, in Udupi on August 7, 2016. Rajeshwari is already out on bail. Navneet is still in prison.

Shetty was murdered at his house in Indrali and later his body was taken to Belman. It is alleged Niranjan Bhat had put the body of deceased Bhaskar Shetty in the pit used for Homa rituals and burnt it.

Kolkatta, Mar 19: A local leader of BJP has been arrested for organising a cow urine consumption event in Kolkata, claiming that it will protect people from coronavirus or cure those already infected, leading to a civic volunteer falling ill after drinking it.

The police said that 40-year-old Narayan Chatterjee, who had on Monday organised a cow worship programme at a cowshed and distributed cow urine, was arrested following a complaint filed by the victim.

He had vouched for its "miraculous" properties while offering gaumutra to others.

A civic volunteer, who was on duty near the cow shed also consumed gaumutra and fell sick on Tuesday, following which he lodged a complaint with the police against Chatterjee.

Reacting to the arrest, the state BJP leadership criticised the state government.

"Chatterjee had distributed cow urine, but he didn't fool people in consuming it. When he distributed it he clearly said it was cow urine, he didn't force anyone to drink it. It has not been proved whether it is harmful or not.

"So how can just police arrest him without any reason. This is completely undemocratic," state BJP General Secretary Sayantan Basu said.

West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh has said there is no harm in drinking cow urine and he has no qualms in admitting he consumes it.

His party colleague and MP Locket Chatterjee, however, differed, terming it an "unscientific belief" that should be shunned.

The cow urine distribution as a cure for coronavirus had drawn sharp criticism from the doctors.