BENGALURU: Excise Minister H Nagesh, independent MLA from Mulbagal in Kolar, was on Wednesday dropped from the ministry to vacate one berth in the cabinet. He will be appointed as Chairman of Ambedkar Development Corporation with the rank and status of a cabinet minister.

According to a note issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in the evening, Nagesh resigned from the cabinet and requested the CM to appoint him as the chairman of the Ambedkar Development Corporation, and the CM obliged by approving his appointment.

“I am resigning on my own and I will abide by any decision taken by the CM,” Nagesh said after his meeting with the CM and the ministers, during which he was convinced to resign. “I have been assured of a suitable post that is equivalent to that of a minister,” he said. 

BJP MLA N Muniratna, who won the bypoll from Rajarajeshwari Nagar and was looking for a berth, was miffed with CM B S Yediyurappa on being left out of the cabinet and was at the latter’s residence till late on Tuesday night, and again on Wednesday morning, to make him change his mind. The CM is said to have made attempts to convince central leaders to include Muniratna into the cabinet. 

BENGALURU: A day after the party central leadership greenlighted the induction of seven ministers into his cabinet, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and other senior leaders are working on striking a fine balance between newcomers and loyalists, and seeking to take other leaders into confidence. While three newcomers — N Munirathna, MTB Nagaraj and R Shankar — are set to make it to the ministry, names of senior leaders are being considered for the four other berths.

On Monday, Yediyurappa said the new ministers will take oath on January 13 or 14, and BJP National President JP Nadda and general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Arun Singh will be invited for the ceremony. Sources said it will most likely be held after 4pm on January 13, and they expect to get more clarity on the names on Tuesday. 

It was, however, not clear if Yediyurappa will go in for cabinet expansion or reshuffle. “Let’s see, you will get to know,” he said. Currently, the cabinet has 27 ministers, including the Chief Minister, and seven berths are vacant. 

Sourc es indicated that if Yediyurappa inducts seven ministers, he may drop one or two ministers to keep a few slots open, with the Maski bypolls coming up. While campaigning for the bypolls, the CM had promised that Munirathna and Nagaraj would be made ministers, and also assured berths for Shankar, CP Yogeshwar and Umesh Katti. However, there is opposition from some sections on inducting Yogeshwar, sources said. MLC AH Vishwanath is not being considered. Sources said that Katti, Aravind Limbavali, Halappa Achar, Raju Gowda and Poornima Srinivas are also on the shortlist.

“While the CM is keen on Achar and Gowda, the high command is recommending Katti and Limbavali,’’ sources said. Meanwhile, there was a buzz about Excise Minister H Nagesh and Women and Child Welfare Minister Shashikala Jolle being dropped. Nagesh told TNIE the CM had promised not to drop him.

Jolle said she is ready to do any task assigned to her. A senior minister said a woman legislator is likely to get a look-in. Sources said that by giving the go-ahead for ministry expansion, the high command has sent a message to his detractors, but the exercise will be a challenge.

Tells CCB she knows conman Yuvaraj Swamy since 17 years, says he was family astrologer 

BENGALURU: A day after she was summoned by the Central Crime Branch for questioning, Kannada actor Radhika Kumaraswamy on Friday appeared before the investigating officer over allegations of receiving Rs 15 lakh from a conman, Yuvaraj Swamy.  

H M Nagaraj, Assistant Commissioner of Police from the CCB told TNIE that Radika was interrogated for about two hours, during which she shared some details regarding money transactions made by Yuvaraj. She claimed that the money was remuneration for an upcoming movie and there was nothing illegal in it. “We may summon her again if required for the investigation.

Her statement has been recorded and it is too early to reveal any more details about the interrogation,” he said. Sources said that the CCB may verify phone call records of Radika. According to CCB sources, Radhika was in Madikeri when summoned, and she arrived for questioning at 11 am.

Radhika said that she was acquainted with Yuvaraj for the last 17 years, as he was her father’s friend and was the family’s astrologer. She spoke to reporters after coming out of the CCB office, claiming that she does not hide anything and everything is transparent. She stated that she would cooperate with the investigation if the CCB summoned her again.

On Wednesday, the CCB had questioned Raviraj, brother of Radhika, for his alleged financial links to Swamy, and later Radhika spoke to reporters and claimed that the money was payment she received to act in an upcoming movie. Meanwhile, Yuvaraj Swamy (52) is a resident of Nagarabhavi, and claims to be an astrologer and vaastu expert. He was arrested by the CCB on December 16. 

Ensure visually impaired students get talking laptops: HC
Bengaluru: Noting that there should be a proper mechanism to inform Class 10 and pre-university college students about the scheme of distributing talking laptops, the Karnataka High Court on Friday asked the government to come out with a mechanism ensuring that talking laptops for the eligible visually impaired students are distributed as per the scheme launched in 2014. A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum passed the order after hearing a PIL by advocate S Umapathi. He contended the scheme was not properly implemented as the laptops were not distributed in 2018-19 and 2019-20 despite budgetary funds.

Adequate precautionary measures are being taken and no bird flu cases have been reported in Karnataka, Chavan stated after the meeting. 

BENGALURU: In an attempt to allay any fears over consuming chicken and eggs after cases of bird flu were reported in neighbouring Kerala and some other states, the Karnataka Government on Friday clarified that there is no restriction on the sale of poultry products in the state.

“There is no restriction on the sale of poultry products and people can consume them without any apprehensions,” Animal Husbandry Minister Prabhu Chavan said, after chairing a virtual meeting with Deputy Commissioners of all the districts to review the situation. 

Adequate precautionary measures are being taken and no bird flu cases have been reported in Karnataka, Chavan stated after the meeting. The statement from the minister came after chicken prices dropped drastically at some places, including Davangere and Chitradurga. Due to the fear of bird flu, the demand for poultry products, including eggs, has dropped noticeably. 

The minister said that except for poultry products from Kerala, Karnataka has not imposed restrictions on transportation of poultry products from any other state. The state has banned entry of poultry products from Kerala and also sounded a high alert across the state, especially in the border districts. Officials of the Animal Husbandry, Forest, Rural Development, Police and other departments have been asked to work in coordination to keep a close watch on the situation. 

Animal Husbandry Minister Prabhu Chavan said officials in bordering districts of Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Mysuru and Chamar-ajanagar have been told to be extra vigilant and also report cases of unnatural bird deaths. They have also been told to closely watch poultry farms and sanctuaries.

Bengaluru: Dry run, an exercise for end-to-end testing of the COVID-19 vaccination process, was conducted “successfully” in 281 facilities of 31 districts of Karnataka, and the state is ready for the actual vaccination whenever the vaccine arrives, the health department said on Friday.

The 281 facilities where the dry run was conducted include eight in the city civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike limits.

According to the state health department, Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan visited the district hospital in Ramanagara and observed the dry run activities, while Health Minister K Sudhakar visited Aster CMI hospital at Yelahanka in Bengaluru and the District hospital in Chikkaballapura.

Sudhakar, after visiting the dry run facilities, said the arrangements and preparedness were quite good and the process was being followed as per the guidelines issued.

Several MLAs, including Kumar Bangarappa (Soraba), MP Kumaraswamy (Mudigere), Suresh (Tarikere) visited dry run facilities in their constituencies and observed the activities.

Senior health department officials and Deputy Commissioners of various districts personally supervised the dry run sites, it said.

It said after the successful completion of the dry run in all the districts, the state is ready for the actual COVID-19 vaccination whenever the vaccine arrives.

Sudhakar had earlier in the day said Karnataka expects to receive 13,90,000 vials of a vaccine against COVID-19 in a day or two and it is likely to be administered from January 11.

The vaccination will first be administered to health care workers and 6.30 lakh health care professionals have registered in Karnataka to date, he said.

Health workers will be followed by those with co morbidities, those aged above 60, and in other departments like Police and Revenue working against COVID-19, he added.

The first round of the dry run was held in five districts of Karnataka- Bengaluru (including BBMP), Belagavi, Kalburgi, Mysore, and Shivamogga- on December 2 as per the government of India guidelines.

Bengaluru: The Congress in Karnataka on Friday alleged that police stations and government offices at several places in the state were functioning like ruling BJP’s offices and party workers were being intimidated and threatened to stage protests.

The party’s state president D K Shivakumar, while leveling this charge, said efforts were on to strengthen the Congress and the party’s aim was not only to outperform BJP in the coming taluk and Zilla panchayat polls but remove it from power.

“Various police stations and government offices have been converted into BJP offices.

Police officers like circle or Sub-Inspectors are threatening our workers with cases if they don’t go to BJP,” he told reporters at a state Congress “Sankalpa’ convention here.

Shivakumar claimed that many block presidents had informed the party of this and it had been taken note of.

“We have made a list of it. We are thinking about organizing protests at those police stations or in those constituencies.

We will plan and do it. We will not sit in rooms..we will go on the streets and agitate. It will be to give strength to our workers and send a message to authorities,” he added.

The division level Sankalpa conventions are aimed at strengthening the Congress at the grassroots level and chalk out political strategies, including creating awareness on the ‘failures’ of BJP-led state and central governments.

“There are taluk and Zilla panchayat polls also in certain municipalities …not just winning these polls, our challenge, our vow, and resolve are to remove the BJP government from the state and the country.”

Noting that his aim was to convert Congress, which is a mass-based party, to a cadre-based party, the KPCC chief said the process was on to appoint and train booth level agents.

“We have also asked the local leadership for new panchayat and ward level committees to be formed and inform the party about it.

We will have a “digital youth” (to manage social media, databases) in every booth, involve women and youth in a big way at the grassroots level of the party organization,” he added.

Shivakumar said the Congress would come out with a list of “anti-people” moves and “corruption”, among other things, against the BJP government.

To a question about the Karnataka High Court dismissing the Chief Minister petition, seeking quashing of the FIR in connection with an illegal denotification case, he said “…Yediyurappa should take moral responsibility, Delhi leadership of that party seems to be encouraging…”

The court had on January 6 dismissed Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s petition and directed the Lok Ayukta to continue the probe in the matter.