Only by-poll winners to be made Ministers, Cabinet expansion by month-end: CM Yediyurappa
Bengaluru, Dec 17: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Tuesday made it clear that only those MLAs who won the recent by-polls will be made ministers and no one else.
With cabinet expansion on the cards ever since the BJP secured a comfortable majority in the Assembly by winning 12 of the 15 constituencies which went to byelections on December five, hectic lobbying has started for ministerial berths.
Many aspirants have made a beeline for the Chief Minister, seeking to push their case.
The minister for health and family welfare B Sriramulu is keen to get the post of Deputy Chief Minister.
"We have already said that those who have won the recent assembly byelections will be made ministers.
There is no question of making others ministers," Yediyurappa told reporters here.
"I will go to Delhi after December 21 or 22 and get the matter (cabinet expansion) resolved.
The oath-taking (by the new ministers) will take place by the end of the month," the Chief Minister added.
The Karnataka government can have 34 ministers, including Chief Minister, of which 18 have been filled.
MLAs G Somashekar Reddy, Murugesh Nirani, Umesh Katti, Ramesh Jarkiholi and deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi met Yediyurappa on Tuesday and are believed to have discussed cabinet expansion.
BJP sources said Jarkiholi had put forth his demand to make him Deputy Chief Minister with the plum Water Resources portfolio.
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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.
