B S Yediyurappa allocates portfolios to new Ministers, effects changes for some
Bengaluru: A week after expanding his cabinet, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Thursday allocated portfolios to the seven new inductees and also effected a reshuffle of the departments of some ministers.
Among the new Ministers, Umesh Katti gets the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs while S Angara has been given Fisheries, Ports and Inland Transport.
Murugesh Nirani will be the Mines and Geology minister and Arvind Limbavali gets Forest Department, according to an official gazette notification issued in this regard with the consent of the Governor.
Among the others, R Shankar gets Municipal Administration and Sericulture portfolio while MTB Nagaraj would be the Excise Minister and C P Yogeshwar in charge of Minor Irrigation department.
In a significant reshuffle, J C Madhuswamy has been divested of Law, Parliamentary Affairs, Legislation and Minor Irrigation portfolios and allocated Medical Education, Kannada and Culture departments.
Madhuswamy was the key minister who used to put up a strong defence of the government in the Assembly.
The Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Legislation department has been given to Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai as an additional portfolio.
The Forest Department has been taken back from Anand Singh, who has now been given the Tourism portfolio in addition to Environment and Ecology; while the responsibility of the Medical Education Department has been taken back from Health and Family Welfare Minister K Sudhakar.
C C Patil, who earlier held the Mines and Geology portfolio has now been given charge of Small Scale Industries and Information and Public Relations department also.
Minister Kota Srinivas Poojari has been relieved from the responsibility of Fisheries, Ports and Inland Transport Department and will now have Muzrai and Backward Classes Welfare Department.
While Haj and Wakf Department has been taken back from Animal Husbandry Minister Prabhu Chauhan; Labour Minister A Shivaram Hebbar has been divested of the Sugar department.
K Gopalaiah, who has been divested of the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumers Affairs Department, has now been made incharge of Horticulture and Sugar departments and K C Narayana Gowda has been given Youth Empowerment, Sports, Haj and Wakf Departments, while Municipal Administration, Horticulture and Sericulture departments have been taken back from him.
The Chief Minister has kept the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR), Cabinet Affairs, Finance, Bangalore Development, Energy, Intelligence, Planning, Programme Monitoring Statistics, Infrastructure Development and all unallocated portfolios with himself.
According to sources, there is resentment among some Ministers about portfolios allocated to them and are likely to meet the Chief Minister in this regard.
Ending a long wait, Yediyurappa had expanded his 17- month old cabinet on January 13, by inducting seven ministers as he also dropped H Nagesh who was holding the Excise portfolio.
Also, several MLAs had expressed serious reservations about MLCs not elected by the people being made Ministers, lack of representation with most Ministers still from Bengaluru and Belagavi districts, and also on their "seniority or sacrifice" not being considered.
There are now 33 Ministers in the cabinet, whose total strength is 34.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Surat LS candidate Nilesh Kumbhani whose nomination form was rejected suspended from Congress
Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.
A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".
"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.
"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.
Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.
The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.
In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.
Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.
