17 of 23 members in Gehlot''s Cabinet first-time ministers
Jaipur, Dec 24: Seventeen of the 23 members of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's expanded council of ministers are first-time ministers, sources in the Congress said Monday.
The 23 ministers, including one from Congress ally Rashtriya Lok Dal, were sworn in at the Raj Bhavan here. Of the total, 13 are cabinet ministers and 10 ministers of state.
They were administered the oath of office by Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh and the swearing-in ceremony was attended by Gehlot, Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and other Congress leaders.
Sources said those Congress MLAs, who emerged winners in the 2013 Rajasthan assembly elections despite the "Modi-wave", were also given ministerial berths.
They include Ramesh Meena, Govind Dotasara, Bhanwar Singh Bhati, Sukhram Vishnoi, Ashok Chandna and Rajendra Yadav, who are also first-time ministers, the sources said.
Of the 17 first-time ministers, seven are cabinet minister and 10 minister of state, they said.
Some of the prominent names who held ministerial portfolios in the previous Congress government in the state, but were not made ministers this time are C P Joshi, Hemaram Chaudhary, Deependra Singh Shekhawat, Parasram Mordia and Rajendra Pareek, the sources said.
They said Ashok Bairwa, Mahesh Joshi, Jitendra Singh, Mahendra Singh Malviya, Brijendra Singh Ola and Raj Kumar Sharma were also not given chance in the state cabinet of this Congress government.
The names of council of ministers were finalised by state Congress leaders, including Gehlot and Pilot, after rounds of discussion with party president Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders, the sources said.
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Search operations intensify across prisons in Karnataka to curb contraband
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka DGP (Prisons) Alok Kumar on Friday said search operations against contraband inside prisons across the state have been intensified, leading to a number of seizures.
In the last 36 hours, mobile phones and SIM cards have been recovered following search operations inside prisons, including Kalaburagi, Mangaluru and Shivamogga.
"Our search operations against contraband items inside the prison premises continues all across the state. In the last 36 hours, 10 mobile phones, four SIM cards at Kalaburagi, six phones at Mangaluru, four phones at Ballari, three phones and four SIM cards seized at Shivamogga prisons. This drive will continue," he said in a post on 'X'.
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He further said that in the largest haul in the history of Parappana Agrahara prison in Bengaluru, 30 mobile phones were seized in a late Thursday night operation.
"Appreciate the good work done by SP Anshu Kumar and Jailer Shivakumar, who led the search team. 30K reward for the search team," he added.
The 1994-batch IPS officer, Kumar, was promoted to the rank of Director General of Police and posted as DGP, Prisons and Correctional Services recently.
Ever since he has taken over as DGP Prisons, Kumar has intensified search operations against contraband items inside prisons across the state and made several seizures, including narcotics substances, knives and other items.
