Woman politician’s elderly parents-in-law commit suicide in apartment

Bengaluru, Jul 18: Bringing a major change in the  administration of Bengaluru, which has emerged as a Covid-19 hotspot, the state government on Saturday transferred B H Anil Kumar out of the BBMP and brought N Manjunath Prasad to take his place. 

Manjunath Prasad, who headed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) before being replaced by Kumar, will take over with immediate effect. The government has also placed him in concurrent charge of the Revenue Department as well as the Disaster Management, Bhoomi and UPOR.

Kumar, an Additional Chief Secretary, has been put in a place where earlier a secretary was posted. He now heads the Department of Public Enterprises. The posting would have brought him two spots down had it not been for the government upgrading it to the level of additional chief secretary. 

Anil Kumar, who was earlier praised for his work to contain the coronavirus pandemic, had faced criticism by the High Court of Karnataka for the BBMP's failure to help people in containment zones as well as other issues on the spread of the pandemic. 

Sources in the government said, pressure has been building up against Anil Kumar over the last two months after most of the Bengaluru MLAs complained to the chief minister's office.

"No MLA backed him. Everyone had a problem," a source said. 

Things came to the head with regard to a Rs 436 crore project given to KRIDL. "The issue reached the chief minister's office as all the MLAs took an issue with the way the project was awarded," a source said. 

Another source said that Kumar came under fire after a central team flagged the issue of failing Covid-19 surveillance measures in Bengaluru. The central team's criticism, it is widely believed in the government, came as the last straw. 

Bengaluru, Apr 8: In a strong show of support, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa stood behind the minorities in the state and said no one should target the Muslim community over the coronavirus crisis and the Tablighi Jamaat.

He said those communalising the issue will be dealt with strictly.

BS Yediyurappa was speaking to a regional media channel when he said "Nobody should speak a word against Muslims. This is a warning. If anyone blames the entire Muslim community for some isolated incident, I'll take action against them also without a second thought. Will not allow that to happen."

Since then, many have welcomed the CM's remarks including the opposition.

Former Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao tweeted and said that other BJP leaders should follow the Karnataka CM and that it's a welcome step.

Congress president DK Shivakumar too said he agrees with the chief minister and that no one should target one community. "The CM should also act strictly against people posting communal remarks on social media and issue an order."

Earlier, Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa held a meeting with minority opposition MLAs and MLCs and urged them to pass the message within the community asking those who had attended the Delhi Nizamuddin Markaz event to come and get tested for Covid-19.

Kasaragod, Apr 10: The death of five cats in the general hospital-turned-Covid-19 isolation centre here recently has evoked a little bit of scare among the health authorities who are eagerly awaiting the viscera test results of the dead animals.

The death of the cats has evoked anxiety in the backdrop of a tiger in a zoo in United States tested positive for Covid-19 recently.

It was recently that the hospital authorities had noticed the death of the cats, which include two male and a female adult and two kittens, were long been seen in and around the hospital compound.