Cabinet expansion likely after December 20 or 22: BS Yediyurappa
Bengaluru, Dec 13: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday said the ministry expansion was likely to take place after December 20 or 22 after discussions with the party high command.
"It maybe late by eight to 10 days. We will expand the cabinet and those promised will be inducted into the Ministry there is no confusion on that," Yediyurappa told reporters here.
Yediyurappa said he has been asked to go to Delhi after a week to discuss the expansion exercise as BJP National President Amit Shah was busy with the Jharkhand assembly polls and other matters.
"I have already spoken to him. The cabinet expansion will be done after December 20 or 22," he added.
After his government retained the majority in Assembly by sweeping the December 5 bypolls, Yediyurappa had recently said that he would soon leave for Delhi to hold discussions with the BJP central leadership on cabinet expansion.
The ruling BJP had swept the by-elections, winning 12 of the total of 15 seats, helping the four-month-old Yediyurappa government retain majority in the Assembly.
However, there is talk within BJP circles that Ministry expansion may get further delayed as Dhanurmasa (considered an inauspicious month among Hindus) will begin on December 16 and will end with Makar Sankranti in the third week of January.
Meanwhile, lobbying has intensified for ministerial berths, by both BJP old guard and new entrants.
Yediyurappa has made it clear that 11 disqualified MLAs (of the total 13 fielded by BJP) who successfully contested the bypolls on party tickets, will be made Ministers.
Cabinet expansion will not be an easy task as Yediyurappa will have to strike a balance by accommodating the victorious disqualified legislators as he had promised and also make place for the old guards, upset at being "neglected" in the first round of the induction exercise.
He also has to give adequate representation to various castes and regions in his cabinet, that currently has 18 ministers, including the Chief Minister and the sanctioned strength is 34.
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South African police arrest suspect in mass shooting that killed 12, including 3 children
Johannesburg (AP): A 32-year-old suspect has been arrested in connection with a mass shooting which claimed the lives of 12 people including three children at an unlicensed pub earlier this month, South African police said on Monday.
The man is suspected of being one of the three people who opened fire on patrons in a pub at Saulsville township, west of South Africa's capital Pretoria, killing 12 people including three children aged 3, 12 and 16.
At least 13 people were also injured during the attack, whose motive remains unknown.
According to the police, the suspect was arrested on Sunday while traveling to Botlokwa in Limpopo province, more than 340 km from where the mass shooting took place on Dec 6.
An unlicensed firearm believed to have been used during the attack was recovered from the suspect's vehicle.
“The 32-year-old suspect was intercepted by Limpopo Tracking Team on the R101 Road in Westenburg precinct. During the arrest, the team recovered an unlicensed firearm, a hand gun, believed to have been used in the commission of the multiple murders. The firearm will be taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory for ballistic analysis,” police said in statement.
The suspect was arrested on the same day that another mass shooting at a pub took place in the Bekkersdal township, west of Johannesburg, in which nine people were killed and 10 wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire on patrons.
Police have since launched a search for the suspects.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and recorded more than 26,000 homicides in 2024 — an average of more than 70 a day. Firearms are by far the leading cause of death in homicides.
The country of 62 million people has relatively strict gun ownership laws, but many killings are committed with illegal guns, according to authorities.
According to police, mass shootings at unlicensed bars are becoming a serious problem. Police shut down more than 11,000 illegal taverns between April and September this year and arrested more than 18,000 people for involvement in illegal liquor sales.
