Bengaluru, Jun 9: Five Parliamentarians from Karnataka including JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, BJP leaders Nirmala Sitharaman and Pralhad Joshi, who were part of the previous Cabinet, on Sunday took oath in the new NDA Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Union Minister of State in the previous Modi government, Shobha Karandlaje, and former minister in the state government V Somanna -- both from BJP -- were also sworn in.
They were administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
While Sitharaman, Kumaraswamy and Joshi were given Cabinet rank, Karandlaje and Somanna were made Ministers of State.
Sitharaman represents Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha, while other four were elected to Lok Sabha in the recently concluded polls.
Kumaraswamy represents Mandya, Joshi was elected from Dharwad, Karandlaje -- Bangalore North, and Somanna --Tumkur.
Of the ministers, Kumaraswamy, who has been given a minister post from NDA partner JD(S)' quota, is from the dominant Vokkaliga community.
From the BJP's quota, while Sitharaman and Joshi are Brahmins, Karandlaje is a Vokkaliga, and Somanna is from Lingayat, another dominant community in the state.
For Kumaraswamy and Somanna, this is their first stint in the union government, while Sitharaman held the post of Finance and Corporate Affairs in the previous Modi government.
Joshi held portfolios of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs, and Karandlaje was Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare in the previous NDA tenure.
Ahead of his swearing-in, Kumaraswamy said the prime minister has given him an opportunity to serve as a minister in his new Ministry, and gave people of "Kannada Naadu" credit for this.
The former chief minister, while maintaining that he has not placed a demand for any portfolio, reiterated his desire to be the Agriculture Minister.
Somanna, on his part, said he will honestly work towards fulfilling the expectations of the party leadership.
He also said that he has no expectations regarding the portfolio and will serve in the department assigned to him by the prime minister with the aim of ensuring that the government's benefits reach the people.
The NDA got 19 out of 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, with BJP winning 17 and JD(S) in 2. The ruling Congress in the state has won nine seats.
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Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.