Cabinet expansion likely next month: CM Yediyurappa
Bengaluru, Dec 22: The long delayed cabinet expansion in Karnataka might take place next month, with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa indicating on Sunday that it may take place in mid January, around "Makar Sankranti."
"The high command has asked me to come after a week.Maybe by the end of this month we will finalise the list (cabinet expansion)," he told reporters after the oath taking ceremony of 13 of the 15 newly elected MLAs at Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat.
Asked whether the news of the cabinet expansion would come in Sankranti, he said "maybe by that time."
The Chief Minister said he needed time to carry out the rejig and expansion as he has to leave for Delhi and hold discussions with the party high command.
To a question on cabinet berths to the newly elected BJP MLAs, Yediyurappa said, "There are no differences of opinion on this issue with party leaders in Delhi.
We had promised the newly elected MLAs that we will make them ministers, which we will fulfill. There is no doubt about it.
Those who took oath as MLAs on Sunday were Mahesh Kumathalli (Athani constituency), Srimant Patil (Kagwad), Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), Shivaram Hebbar (Yellapur), B C Patil (Hirekerur), Arun Kumar Pujar (RaneBennur), Anand Singh (Vijayanagar), Dr K Sudhakar (Chikkaballapur), Byrathi Basavaraj (KR Puram), S T Somashekar (Yeshwanthpur), K Gopalaiah (Mahalakshmi Layout), Sharath Bachegowda (Hoskote), M C Narayana Gowda (KR Pet).
Two Congress MLAs Rizwan Arshad (Shivajinagar) and P Manjunath (Hunsur) did not take oath on Sunday.
Of the 13 disqualified MLAs fielded by BJP, 11 won the December 5 bypolls while two others M T B Nagaraj and A H Vishwanath lost the election.
The cabinet expansion would not be an easy task as Yediyurappa would have to strike a balance by accommodating the victorious disqualified legislators as he had promised and also make place for 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.
Though Yediyurappa had made it clear that the 11 disqualified MLAs who successfully contested the bypolls on party tickets would be made Ministers, Nagaraj and Vishwanath are lobbying hard to get ministerial berths, said BJP sources.
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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.
