Udupi: Sri Krishna Leelotsava attracts thousands of devotees

Bengaluru, Jan 7: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday said the much-awaited cabinet expansion will take place in about a week to 10 days and that he wants to complete the exercise before his proposed visit to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum meet later this month.

"Cabinet expansion has to be done in a week or 8-10 days. There is also information that Amit Shah will be coming to Bengaluru on January 16 or 18. Before that I will go to Delhi and get things cleared and will expand the cabinet at the earliest," Mr Yediyurappa said.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said he wanted to complete the exercise before his Davos visit.

"I will make all efforts to expand the cabinet before that," he said.

With Mr Yediyurappa making it clear that 11 of the disqualified JDS-Congress MLAs who got re-elected in the December 5 bypolls on BJP tickets will be made ministers, lobbying has been on within the party for the remaining ministerial berths.

Currently, there are 18 ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the cabinet that has a sanctioned strength of 34.

Cabinet expansion will not be an easy task for the Chief Minister as he will have to strike a balance by accommodating the victorious disqualified legislators as promised and also make space for the old guards, upset at being "neglected" in the first round of the induction exercise.

He also has to give adequate representation to various castes and regions in his cabinet and also deal with the allocation of key portfolios.

The Chief Minister, who has indicated that the ministry expansion may take place any time after Sankranti, is likely to travel to Davos on January 20, according to sources.

BS Yediyurappa, along with Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Mansukh Mandaviya, as well as Chief Ministers Amarinder Singh, Kamal Nath, are expected to join over 100 Indian CEOs at Davos in Switzerland later this month for the WEF's 50th annual meeting, which will be attended by thousands from across the globe.

Mangaluru, June 12: Juma prayers were held in dozens of mosques across coastal district of Dakshina Kannada including the city of Mangaluru for the first time in nearly three months upholding all the safety norms including physical distancing. 

For the first time in the recent history of Mangaluru, juma prayers were stalled in all the mosques for 11 consecutive weeks as part of nationwide coronavirus lockdown. 

While many mosques were reopened for the congregational prayers in the region on June 8 (Monday) after receiving approval from the government, many others are yet to be opened as Muslim religious leaders are taking additional precautionary measures to prevent the spread of covid-19 apart from following all the guidelines issued by the government.

“Around 400 people participated in the Juma prayer at Zeenat Bakhsh Juma Masjid. All the safety guidelines were followed. Sadaqatul Nadwi delivered the sermon and led the prayers,” S M Rasheed Haji, executive member of the mosque committee told coastaldigest.com.

“As per the guidelines, devotees performed Wudu (ablution) at their homes and also carried their own musalla (prayer mat) to the mosque,” said a Jalaluddin, a cleric who offered Juma prayers in Ullal.  

The guidelines issued by the government to the mosques also include disinfecting the premises at regular intervals, maintaining physical distance, wearing masks and finishing prayers in “minimum permissible time”.

Kasaragod, May 27: In a tragic incident, two persons, who were brothers, died of asphyxiation while trying to rescue a calf that fell in their well at Bandhiyod near here on Wednesday.

Police sources said the elder brother Narayanan (50) entered into the well first to save the calf that fell in the well early in the morning.

His brother Sankaran (40) also followed suit after he noticed his brother fainting deep down the well. However, he also fainted inside the well.