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BS Yediyurappa may drop some Lingayat ministers for caste balance

News Network
December 28, 2019

Bengaluru, Dec 28: Chief minister BS Yediyurappa is reportedly looking to rebalance caste equations in his cabinet by dropping some ministers, mostly from the Lingayat community, and bringing in new ones. The changes will be made when he expands his cabinet in January.

The move will help him give proportionate representation to different castes and regions, and also accommodate Congress-JD(S) turncoats who contested the recent bypolls on BJP tickets and won. The latter must be rewarded as they essentially paved the way for BJP to form the government.

There’s no official word on who may be asked to vacate cabinet spots, but some senior BJP functionaries said the names of deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi, home minister Basavaraj Bommai, mines & geology minister CC Patil and women & child welfare minister Shashikala Jolle were being discussed.

Yediyurappa is reportedly also persuading the party bosses in Delhi to consider industries minister and former CM Jagadish Shettar for the governor’s role. About 12 states, including Karnataka, are due to get new governors.

Yediyurappa’s cabinet currently has 18 members. The sanctioned strength, including the chief minister, is 34. There is a crowded field of those looking to get in. These include the newly elected legislators. Disqualified MLA R Shankar is also eyeing a place, though he lost in the byelections.

With eight ministers, Lingayats are well represented in the cabinet. There are concerns that the community might get outsized representation if more members are inducted. If hopefuls Srimanth Patil, Mahesh Kumathalli, BC Patil and Umesh Katti are sworn in, the number will rise to 12. The BJP functionaries said Yediyurappa was seriously considering dropping at least two existing Lingayat ministers to make room for others.

“This possibility [12 Lingayat ministers] will create a caste imbalance and upset ministerial aspirants. Then there’s the issue of regions. Belagavi will have six ministers if Katti is inducted and Haveri will have three if Shankar is inducted without dropping anybody,” a senior BJP politician said. “The only way to ensure balance is to drop a few ministers.”

Jolle might get to stay on as she is the only female in the cabinet. Savadi, too, could escape unscathed as he is the party high command’s pick. There are some differences: CM wants to induct 11 new MLAs and Shankar, but the party wants to accommodate eight new legislators and give other spots to BJP loyalists.

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News Network
August 5,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 4: Deputy Chief Minister Dr.CN Ashwathnarayan instructed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner Manjunatha Prasad to set up a separate high-level committee to ascertain the exact cause of coronavirus-related deaths in the state.

He spoke to reporters after a meeting with Prasad on Tuesday.

"The committee, headed by senior officials will audit the reason for the increase in death cases. Has there been a death due to treatment delay? Or are there any shortcomings in the treatment process?" the deputy chief minister said.

He pointed out that based on the report, the committee should try to correct the deficiency and reduce the death rate.

"How many beds are in which hospital? How many patients are on a ventilator? How many have gone home from the hospital? Etc. All information needs to be updated online at the moment. He suggested that this information should be made available to the public online," Ashwaththanarayana said.

Stating that some hospitals are not giving details about the number of beds correctly, he instructed the commissioners to take legal action if differences in their data are found.

He said that there is a shortage of ASHA workers in the city and it needs to be hired immediately.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are 74,477 active COVID-19 cases in Karnataka and the death toll in the state is at 2,594. 

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News Network
June 5,2020

Bantwal, Jun 5: A very rare white python, which had entered a house at Kavalakatte in Bantwal taluk of Dakshina Kannada, was caught by snake catcher Snake Kiran on Friday handed over to the authorities of Pilikula Nisargadhama.

This extremely rare white coloured python known as Albino was seen in the house of one Naushad.

The occupants of the house as well as residents of the area were panicky over seeing it. 

Later a friend of Naushad informed Snake Kiran who caught it and handed over to the care of Pilikula as per the advice of forest officer Sridhar.

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News Network
March 19,2020

New Delhi, Mar 19: Senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes on Wednesday extolled the virtues of 'gaumutra' and shared an anecdote about a man claiming to have cured his cancer by drinking cow urine to drive his point home.

Participating in a debate in Rajya Sabha on two bills for setting up national commissions for homoeopathy and Indian systems of medicine, the former Union minister said, "My extreme friend Jairam Ramesh pulls my leg, when I talk of 'gaumutra'."

Sharing an anecdote, Fernandes said once during a visit to an ashram near Meerut he had met a person who claimed to have cured his cancer by drinking 'gaumutra'.

Many BJP leaders have earlier spoken about the healing power of 'gaumutra'. The Congress has reacted sharply to such remarks.

He also praised the virtues of the Indian systems of medicine. He said when he had severe pain in knee joint and doctors had suggested for replacement surgery. However, he refused and started doing 'Vajrasana'.

"I started Vajrasana, practising yoga, and today I am able to do wrestling without any difficulty," the septuagenarian leader said.

"When (former) prime minister (Atal Bihari) Vajypee ji had a knee surgery, I thought if I had known him earlier, I would have definitely gone to him and ask him to follow 'Vajrasan' and it could have been cured," he said.

He also claimed to have met a person in US aged around 104 years and moving swiftly as a young man.

"Yoga is our wealth. If you practise yoga, may be our budget cost of health can be reduced by 50 per cent. It's way of life," he said.

"Our own Indian systems of medicine will provide a lot of reliefs even before going to a doctor," he said.

Though Fernandes supported the bills but raised objection over the exclusion of yoga and naturopathy.

"I would urge the minister either to amend the bill or bring an assurance that it will bring a separate legislation to cover yoga and naturopathy," he said.

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