Finally, Yeddyurappa calls back all BJP MLAs camping in Gurugram

Bengaluru, Jan 24: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday said the much-delayed Cabinet expansion will take place in the next three days.

At the Kempegowda International Airport, after his arrival from Davos, he informed that he would discuss the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah to take a final decision on the distribution of important portfolios.

Deputy CM Ashwanath Narayna, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and others received the Chief Minister at the airport. The issue of Cabinet expansion was kept in abeyance, ever since the spectacular victory of 12 Assembly seats for BJP, for which the by-elections were held recently. The bypolls were necessitated, following the resignation of about 17 sitting Congress and JD (S) MLAs, which resulted in the collapse of the JDS-Congress coalition government in the state.

BJP had reportedly lured the Congress and JD (S) MLAs into their camp, after promising them to give party ticket to contest the elections, as well as ministerial berths. The Chief Minister had kept as many as 16 Cabinet berths, along with plum portfolios, vacant, after forming the BJP government, with the support of the deserted Congress and JD (S) MLAs, in July last. However, the issue of Cabinet expansion had postponed on one reason or the other, as Yediyurappa was struggling to keep the promise he had made to the former Congress and the JDS MLAs, on whose sacrifice the BJP came back to power.

With the strong demand for ministerial berths within the loyal BJP MLAs, the BJP high command had reportedly advised Yediyurappa to accommodate only a few of the turncoat MLAs and strike balance between the groups.

However, Yediyurappa, who had assured the Congress and JD (S) MLAs of giving them Cabinet berths, had been in dilemma ever since and found it tough to convince the party's Central leaders.

According to party sources, the Chief Minister is not only facing problems over the expansion of his Cabinet, but is also worried over the demand for creation of more number of Deputy Chief Ministers, adding to the present list of three.

Mangaluru: The first-of-its kind Beach Zumba event organized by Veekshitha Arasa on January 26th at Panambur Beach, Mangaluru attracted huge crowd and entertained the masses. Thousands of people who visited the beach last Sunday evening witnessed and danced along with the talented Zumba instructors from Bengaluru and Mangaluru. The show lasted for almost two hours.

The programme was organized by Veekshitha Arasa in association with Panambur Beach Tourism with the cooperation of Panambur Police and sponsorship of AJ Hospital & Research Centre, APD Foundation and SS Arrangers & Caterers.

Panambur Beach Tourism CEO Yatish Baikampady, APD Foundation Trustee Abdullah Rehman and Santhosh Kumar from SS Arrangers and others flagged off the event by releasing saffron, white and green balloons (the colours of Indian tricolor) to mark the nation’s Republic Day. Panambur beach police officials too participated in the inauguration. Veekshitha Arasa’s husband Rohan Lobo, Veekshitha’s parents Bhaskar Arasa and Geetha B Arasa too joined in.

This was done with the message ‘Let the love for health and fitness fly high among the citizens much like the soaring spirit of patriotism’. Speaking on the occasion, Veekshitha said that it was her dream to conduct a Zumba event in the city. “This is my small attempt at promoting fitness among the citizens of Mangaluru. There should be more such events,” she said.

Meenal Dubey, Ashwitha Shetty, Vishal Rai, Aishwarya, Namratha Shekar, Shruthi Keerthiraj, Vinayak Acharya, Kavitha Manish and Urmi were some of the enthusiastic Zumba instructors who performed with Veekshitha.

RJ Nayana and Saravanan Govindaswamy compered the event.

Mangaluru, Mar 14: About 80 centres to check people for fever, cold, cough and other symptoms related to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been set up in the city, health officials said here on Saturday.

According to sources in district health department, apart from the testing centres at Wenlock District Hospital and Lady Goshen hospital, six centres in community health centres, 66 in primary health centres (PHC) and four in the taluk hospitals have been opened for people to get themselves checked if they show any COVID-19-related symptoms.

Two other testing centres are already working at the city’s airport and seaport.