Pak comment: Ramya hits back at BJP protesters, points fingers at Modi, RSS

Bengaluru, July 2: Congress leader and seven-time MLA D K Shivakumar today took charge as the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress committee in the presence of senior leaders of the party.

The formal was held at the KPCC office in Bengaluru. The ceremony is said to be a first of its kind in the country as 10 lakh people from the remotest corners of the state — 462 blocks and 6,000 gram panchayats and municipalities across 7,800 locations —witnessed it online.

Dinesh Gundu Rao , MLA, and immediate past president, handed over the party flag to Mr. Shivakumar. Senior leaders Siddaramaiah, Mallikarjun Kharge, and other MLAs and MLCs attended the programme.

AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka K C Venugopal spoke on the occasion and lashed out at the Modi government for poor handling of economic and health issues in the country.

Bengaluru, Jan 20: The suspense over chief minister BS Yediyurappa expanding his council of ministers is set to continue until after he returns from his trip to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

Yediyurappa, who heads a 10-member delegation to the Swiss ski resort, left on Sunday. Prior to his departure, he told reporters cabinet expansion will happen only after his return on January 24. “I discussed the issue with [BJP] national president Amit Shah for 30 minutes or so. He has given a positive response and I will expand the cabinet within two days after my return,” Yediyurappa said.

But sources said Shah, during his visit to Hubballi on Saturday, had indicated the exercise is likely to be delayed further as the central leadership will be busy with the assembly elections in Delhi. “Indications are there is no possibility of expanding the cabinet until February 11 when the electoral process for the Delhi elections ends,” said a source.

The development has obviously left ministerial aspirants, especially defectors from Congress and JD(S) who were re-elected on BJP tickets last month, restive. Moreover, while Yediyurappa has promised ministerial berths to all MLAs who switched to the BJP from Congress and JD(S), sources say Shah is only in favour of inducting six defectors (11 of whom won MLA seats on saffron party tickets in the byelections) into the cabinet.

“Shah’s advice to Yediyurappa is to strike a balance between defectors and loyalists. His concern is loyalists should not be left disappointed, while justice should be served to the defectors as well,” said a BJP functionary.

Meanwhile, KS Eshwarappa, senior party functionary and minister for rural development, said the BJP would never let down the defectors. “The party is indebted to them and I am sure they will all be rewarded,” he said.

BC Patil, one of the defectors, said some of them had met Shah in one-on-one meetings in Hubballi. “It was more a courtesy call and the issue of cabinet expansion didn’t come up during the meeting,” he said.