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Bengaluru, Feb 3: A wave of dissatisfaction has hit the six-month-old BJP government against the backdrop of chief minister B S Yediyurappa's announcement to induct 13 aspirants in the second cabinet expansion on February 6.

In the first cabinet expansion, the chief minister had inducted 17 ministers on August 20, 2019.

Among the 13, ten will be those defectors from Congress and the JD(S) who were disqualified earlier and won the assembly by-election in December last year.

The rest will be the 'native BJP leaders', as deputy chief minister Govind Karjol put it.

Speculations are rife that Mahadevapura MLA Arvind Limbavali, Hukkeri MLA Umesh Katti and C P Yogeshwar, who had lost to H D Kumaraswamy from Channapatna assembly segment,would be inducted.

If Yogeshwar is included in the cabinet then he will bethe second minister after Deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi who had lost and yet made it to the cabinet.

The possible induction of Yogeshwar and Savadi, who was made deputy chief minister despite losing the assembly elections, are also a "reason" for discontent in the BJP.

Hectic activities began in the power corridor and MLAs started forming groups to impress upon the chief minister to include their members in the ministry.

While one group was from the "Kalyana Karnataka" region, the others were the defectors who will be excluded in the cabinet expansion.

A few MLAS from 'Kalyana Karnataka' region or erstwhile Hyderabad-Karnataka region comprising six districts, met at the Legislature Home and held a meeting.

The meeting was led by Shorapur MLA Narasimha Nayak akaRaju Gouda and Honnalli MLA M P Renukacharya.
The MLAs of the Kalyana Karnataka region were unanimous that their backward region should get representation in the cabinet.

Later, Gouda met the Chief Minister and requested that their region be given adequate representation in the cabinet, which is lacking development.

Talking to reporters, Gouda said, "We had given representations to all the MPs, MLAs and the chief minister. Today also we all had a meeting and later called on the Chief Minister requesting him to make any MLA from our region a minister."

He said any imbalance in cabinet expansion will cause trouble to the MLAs from Kalyana Karnataka region.

"If you make the defeated candidates ministers then include 120 people in the cabinet," an aggrieved Gouda taunted.

Renukacharya too echoed the same sentiments.

"If you give preference to the defeated candidates then what will happen to those who won the election? Where should the winners of election go? We emphasise upon giving preference to the winners."

On the other hand, the defectors who jumped the Congress and the JD(S) ship and helped form the BJP government too had a meeting in Bengaluru, said BJP sources.

They were unanimous that not only the 11 MLAs who won theelection be made ministers but also A H Vishwanath and M T BNagaraj who had unsuccessfully contested the assembly by- polls from Hunasuru and Hoskote on a BJP ticket.

Vishwanath, who was quite vocal on Sunday for dropping his name, was mellowed down on Monday after meeting Yediyurappa.

However, his insistence for getting a cabinet berth remained intact.

"I did not make any proposal before him and will not do it in future because he (Yediyurappa) knows what has to be done,"Vishwanath told reporters after meeting the chief minister.

When he was reminded of Yediyurappa's statement that therewere legal complications in making him a minister, Vishwanath said, "This government has legal experts and the advocate general. They will speak."

Amid speculations that Athani MLA Mahesh Kumathalli may not get a cabinet berth in the reshuffle, the defected MLAs led by Gokak BJP MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, had a meeting to decide their future strategy, said party sources.

Currently, there are 18 ministers, including the chief minister, in the cabinet, which has a sanctioned strength of 34. Sixteen berths are vacant.

The cabinet expansion exercise will be a delicate task for Yediyurappa as he has to ensure adequate representation for various castes and regions.

The ministry already has eight Lingayats, including Yediyurappa; three Vokkaligas; a Brahmin; three SCs, two OBCs and one ST.

Opposition parties have been critical of the BJP and Yediyurappa over the delay in the cabinet expansion, alleging he is weak and his administration has collapsed.

Reacting to the cabinet expansion, former chief minister Siddaramaiah quipped, "A drama is taking place. Let it happen on February 6. Afterwards we will see what all happens."

Bengaluru, May 3: Karnataka Government has allowed the movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons who are stranded and also those who want to go to their residence as a "one-time measure" from district to district, after obtaining "one-day, one way" passes issued by concerned authorities.

Consequent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) new guidelines on lockdown measures, the government of Karnataka issued new guidelines on lockdown measures which will come into effect from May 4 for the period of two weeks.

In an order issued on Saturday, Chief Secretary and Chairman, State Executive Committee, Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority stated, "In the exercise of the powers, conferred under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the undersigned, in his capacity of Chairman, State Executive Committee, hereby order to permit movement migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons who are stranded and also those people who want to go to their residence as a one-time measure from district to district with one-time one-day one-way passes issued by concerned Deputy Commissioners of the districts/Deputy Commissioner of Police in Commissionerates for strict implementation."

The details of the passes issued shall be shared by the issuing Deputy Commissioners of the districts/ Deputy Commissioner of Police with the receiving Deputy Commissioners of the districts/Deputy Commissioners of Police shall follow the SOPs prescribed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the movement of such persons, the order read.

It is reiterated that this would be a one-time one-day one-way pass for the individuals to reach their final destination.

Meanwhile, three deaths and 12 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the 24 hours in Karnataka, said the state Health Department on Saturday.

According to the Health Department, the total number of coronavirus positive cases in the State is now 601. 271 patients have either been cured or discharged. The virus has killed 25 people so far in the State.

Udupi, July 1: In a concerning development, another SSLC student in Udupi district has tested positive for covid-19.

With this the number of covid-19 patients among SSLC students in the coastal district rose to three. All of them are girls.

The fresh case has been reported from Byndoor. She has already written three papers.

She had reportedly developed some of the symptoms and hence her throat swabs were sent for testing on June 30. Today she received positive report, sources said.