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Bengaluru, Mar 11: Amid the prevailing political uncertainty in Madhya Pradesh with Jyotiraditya Scindia's exit, Congress leader DK Shivakumar on Wednesday asserted that "leaders may come and go but no one can destroy Congress."

"No one can destroy Congress. Leaders may come, leaders may go, that doesn't make any difference," said Shivakumar while speaking to news agency on the current political scenario for Congress in Madhya Pradesh.

Speaking about the Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs, who are lodged in Bengaluru, he said: "All the Madhya Pradesh MLAs who are here do not want to lose their membership. I am sure they will understand, go back and save the government."

On Tuesday, Congress sent two of its leaders -- Sajjan Singh Verma and Govind Singh -- to Bengaluru in order to pacify some of the rebel MLAs who are lodged in a hotel there and who claimed to have resigned from the state Legislative Assembly.

After meeting with 19 party MLAs who have tendered their resignations, Congress leader Sajjan Singh Verma on Wednesday said they are neither willing to support Jyotiraditya Scindia nor in favour of joining BJP as they were "misled and taken to Bengaluru" in Karnataka.

"Nobody is ready to go with Scindia ji. They said they were misled and taken to Bengaluru, most of them said they are not ready to join BJP," Verma told ANI on being asked about the 19 MLAs.

"I just came from Bengaluru and now I am going to Jaipur. Besides 5-6 ministers and one MLA, we all are going to Jaipur. They (MLAs) have said they have the blood of Congress and they will remain in the party. Since Scindia was a senior party leader, all our MLAs followed his order as a courtesy," he said.

The Congress leader further claimed that BJP is using both "muscle and money power" to influence Congress MLAs.

He also claimed that he is strongly in contact with 7-8 BJP MLAs.

Most of the rebel MLAs are perceived close to Scindia and are apparently unhappy at Scindia being "ignored" in the party. The grand old party has been witnessing an internal turf war in Madhya Pradesh since the party formed the government in the state in 2018.

Scindia is likely to join BJP later today.

Bengaluru, Jun 22: Concerned over the increase in COVID-19 cases in the city, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday directed officials to implement lockdown measures strictly in the clusters which have reported more infections.

Yediyurappa held a meeting with Ministers and senior officials regarding containing COVID-19 in Bengaluru and said it can be achieved only if preventive measures are implemented strictly and asked the officials to work in this direction.

"Lockdown shall be implemented strictly in the clusters which reported more cases, especially, K.R. Market and surrounding areas such as Siddapura, VV Puram, Kalasipalya etc. It was decided to seal the adjoining streets, where the cases are reported, a release from the Chief Minister's office said. Stringent action would be taken against those who violate quarantine norms and FIR would be filed if necessary, it said.

Till Sunday evening, the state capital has reported 1,272 cases of COVID-19, including 64 deaths and 411 discharges. On Sunday, as many as 196 fresh cases were recorded. Officers were directed to ensure hygiene and provide other basic amenities to the people who were quarantined in the social welfare department's hostels and other government institutions.

"COVID-19 should be contained without affecting the economic activities in Bengaluru, which resumed recently," the Chief Minister said.

Noting that booth-level officers and volunteers were working to trace contacts and monitor quarantined persons, he said the COVID war room shall have real-time information on the availability of beds in various designated hospitals and facilitate treatment to the infected without loss of time.

A bulletin from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city civic body, said there were 298 active containment zones in the city. BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar along with the Chamarajpet Congress MLA B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan visited a few slum areas in the city to take stock of the COVID-19 situation, officials said.

Bengaluru, Jan 19: The long-awaited discussions on cabinet expansion finally took place between BJP national president Amit Shah and the state party unit on Saturday, but they produced no result.

Latest indications are that new members will be appointed only after CM BS Yediyurappa returns from Davos, Switzerland, on January 25.

The party held a close-door party meeting at a top hotel in Hubballi. The subject of expanding the cabinet, which currently has 16 vacancies, featured in the talks.

Earlier, Yediyurappa reportedly had a one-on-one with Shah during their 45-minute flight from Bengaluru to Hubballi. He is said to have insisted on accommodating all 11 newly MLAs in the cabinet. These legislators were earlier a part of Congress and JD(S); they contested the December byelections on BJP tickets and won.

This apart, BJP sources said, Yediyurappa and Shah had a brief chat at a private event at Palace Grounds . Separately, Shah, who is the Union home minister, held meetings with Jagadish Shettar, Laxman Savadi and Prahlad Joshi, seeking their views on cabinet expansion.

Shah also wanted to get an idea of what people think about the Yediyurappa government’s performance.

Newly elected MLAs Ramesh Jarkiholi, BC Patil and Srimanth Patil greeted Shah. “We only met him to wish him; we didn’t discuss the cabinet issue. That’s something state BJP members will do,” said Hirekerur legislator BC Patil.

Saturday’s deliberations fail to break the stalemate over the cabinet appointments. There are clear differences in the camp about whether all Congress-JD(S) defectors should be made cabinet members, according to a senior minister attended one such meeting.

Shah reportedly wants only seven to eight newly elected MLAs to be made ministers; the rest of the spots should go to BJP loyalists. Yediyurappa disagrees with this position as he had promised all 13 turncoats places in the cabinet. Two lost in the bypolls.

Shah has now asked Yediyurappa to visit Delhi after returning from Davos to finalise the composition of the cabinet, according to the sources.

Yediyurappa will leave for Davos early on Sunday, while Shah will fly directly to Delhi from Hubballi.