Karnataka, Maharashtra in bit of trouble due to spike in COVID-19 cases: Harsh Vardhan

Bengaluru, Jan 10: Chief minister BS Yediyurappa said on Thursday he might not attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and would most likely visit Delhi this weekend for discussions on the pending cabinet expansion.

He was expected to join Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Mansukh Mandaviya, chief ministers Amarinder Singh (Punjab) and Kamal Nath (Madhya Pradesh) and over 100 Indian CEOs at WEF’s 50th annual gathering on January 21-24.

“Mostly, I may not go for Davos (meet),” he told reporters on Thursday. Last week, he had said he was not keen on travelling to the Swiss town but was considering it as some chief ministers’ attendance was required at the high-profile event.

Eleven Congress-JD(S) turncoats, who contested the bypolls on BJP tickets and won, reportedly pressured Yediyurappa to take a decision on cabinet expansion before the now-uncertain Davos trip; it was even suggested that he should simply cancel the trip. The newly elected BJP MLAs are widely expected to be inducted as ministers. But officials in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said his disinclination to travel had nothing to do with the cabinet exercise.

“It’s mainly because of his health. That place (Davos) has got temperature of minus 4-6 degrees and it will be quite tedious for Yediyurappa at the age of 76,” one official said. BJP functionaries, however, claimed that he was wary of taking a trip amid tensions in the party. “The new MLAs have been breathing down Yediyurappa’s neck. They have pushed him into a corner, demanding that he complete cabinet expansion before going anywhere,” a senior functionary said.

On Thursday, the chief minister said he had sought a meeting with party bosses in Delhi. “To discuss cabinet expansion and other important issues, I plan to travel to New Delhi on January 11 or 12. However, I am still waiting for an appointment with the BJP national president and prime minister,” he said.

While Yediyurappa, his additional chief secretary P Ravi Kumar and political adviser MB Maramkal may not visit Davos, a 10-member delegation from Karnataka, including Jagadish Shettar, is expected to travel. There are reports ministers’ family members might join the delegation.

Mysuru/Chamarajanagara, Apr 3: In order to prevent the transmission of Novel Coronavirus though overcrowding, the central jails in Mysuru and Chamarajanagar have begun releasing some of their inmates.

As many as 55 undertrials and convicts were released from Mysuru jail since the last two days, while 18 were released from the prison in Chamarajanagar. The jail inmates had been released on interim bail, for a period of two months.

While the undertrials were facing charges that involved a maximum prison term of seven years, the convicts were facing criminal miscellaneous cases of the family court. Most of the convicts released were prisoners who had not paid the maintenance costs ordered by the family courts in divorce cases.

Bengaluru, Feb 26: The police remand of student activist Amulya Leona Noronha, who was produced before a Magistrate, after a no-show at the Metropolitan Magistrate Court, was extended by 10 more days.

The Fifth Additional Metropolitan Magistrate at the Magistrate's home on Tuesday night had remanded her to police custody for 10 days, less than the 14 days asked for by the Special Investigative Team, considering that she has already spent over four days in judicial custody.

Amulya Noronha, a student of NMKRV College for Women, had raised pro-Pakistan slogans by shouting ''Pakistan Zindabad'' at an anti-CAA protest in Bangalore on 20th February following which the city police filed a case of sedition against her.