Yediyurappa appoints districts in-charge Ministers, keeps Bengaluru with him
Bengaluru, Sep 16: Nearly a month after expanding his cabinet with the induction of 17 Ministers,Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday named district in-charge ministers.
Interestingly,Yediyurappa has kept with him the charge of Bengaluru city, for which there was reportedly stiff competition between key ministers from the city, as both Deputy Chief Minister C S Ashwath Narayan and Revenue Minister R Ashoka were eyeing the post.
Sources said several city MLAs had recently requested Yediyurappa to keep the Bengaluru city in-charge with himself.
A separate Minister was appointed for Bengaluru city in the previous Congress and coalition governments headed by Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy respectively.
While Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol has been made in-charge of Bagalkote along with Kalaburagi, the other two Deputy Chief Ministers, Ashwath Narayan and Laxman Savadi have been made in-charge of Ramanagara and Chikkaaballapura and Ballari and Koppala respectively.
Senior Ministers K S Eshwarappa has been given Shivamogga along with Davangere, R Ashoka- Bengaluru Rural along with Mandya, Jagadish Shettar- Belagavi along with Hubballi-Dharawad.
While Sriramulu has been given the charge of Raichur and Chitradurga, Suresh Kumar has been made in-charge of Chamarajanagara.
Other district in-charge Ministers are V Somanna- Mysuru and Kodagu, C T Ravi- Chikkamagaluru, Basavaraj Bommai- Udupi and Haveri, Kota Srinivas Poojary- Mangaluru, J C Madhuswamy- Tumakuru and Hassan, C C Patil- Gadag and Vijayapura, H Nagesh- Kolar, Prabhu Chavan- Bidar and Yadgir, and Shashikala Jolle- Uttara Kannada.
More than three weeks after he was sworn in as the Chief Minister after the fall of coalition government headed by Kumaraswamy in July, Yediyurappa had expanded his cabinet on August 20 by inducting 17 Ministers.
On August 26, he had allocated portfolios to the new Ministers and also appointed three Deputy Chief Ministers for the first time in the state.
Cabinet expansions and allocation of portfolios had given rise to some discontent within the BJP, as several senior leaders and Ministers felt they were sidelined.
The appointment of Laxman Savadi,who is not a legislator, as the Deputy Chief Minister was seen as the main reason for their discontent.
Yediyurappa has kept 16 Minister posts vacant to accommodate some more BJP members and from among those 17 disqualified former legislators who helped him come to power.
The then Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar had disqualified 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs under the anti-defection law, which they have challenged in the Supreme Court.
If they get relief from the apex court, some of them would be inducted into the cabinet as per the arrangement agreed upon, BJP sources said.
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Indian visa application centre suspended indefinitely in Bangladesh's Chattogram
Dhaka (PTI): India on Sunday suspended visa operations at its mission in Bangladeshi port city of Chattogram until further notice, according to media reports.
The move comes in the wake of a fresh wave of unrest witnessed in the country following the death of prominent youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi.
His death triggered attacks and vandalism across Bangladesh, including stone-hurling at the Assistant Indian High Commissioner's residence in Chattogram on Thursday.
Hadi, a prominent leader of the student-led protests last year that led to the ouster of the prime minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, was a candidate for the scheduled February 12 general elections.
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He was shot in the head on December 12 by masked gunmen at an election campaign in central Dhaka’s Bijoynagar area and died while undergoing treatment in Singapore on December 18.
“Due to the recent security incident at Assistant High Commission of India (AHCI) Chittagong, Indian visa operations at IVAC Chittagong (Chattogram) will remain suspended from 21/12/2025 until further notice,” the Indian Visa Application Centre (IVAC) said in a brief statement.
The announcement for reopening the visa centre will be made after reviewing the situation, the statement added. The decision came into effect on Sunday.
There are five IVAC facilities across Bangladesh at Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Chattogram and Sylhet. An IVAC official told PTI that the other four offices have remained operational as of Sunday.
India on Thursday resumed operations at its visa application centre in Dhaka, a day after closing it over escalated security concerns, but closed for a brief period two other identical facilities in Rajshahi and Khulna as anti-India protestors tried to march towards the Indian missions there.
On Saturday, security was strengthened at the Indian Assistant High Commission office and the visa application centre in Bangladesh's Sylhet city.
The enhanced security measures were put in place to ensure that “no third party can exploit the situation,” Additional Deputy Commissioner (Media) of the Sylhet Metropolitan Police Saiful Islam was quoted as saying by The Dhaka Tribune newspaper on Saturday.
Hadi, 32, was laid to rest on Saturday amid extra-tight security beside the grave of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam near the Dhaka University mosque.
Tens of thousands of people attended the funeral prayers, and ahead of the ritual, chanted anti-India slogans like “Delhi or Dhaka - Dhaka, Dhaka” and “brother Hadi’s blood will not be allowed to go in vain.”
Earlier on December 17, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned Bangladesh envoy Riaz Hamidullah and conveyed its strong concern over certain extremist elements announcing plans to create a security situation around the Indian mission in Dhaka.
“We expect the interim government to ensure the safety of Missions and Posts in Bangladesh in keeping with its diplomatic obligations,” it said.
The envoy was apprised of India's strong concerns about the deteriorating security environment in Bangladesh, it added.
