Cabinet expansion likely after December 20 or 22: BS Yediyurappa
Bengaluru, Dec 13: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday said the ministry expansion was likely to take place after December 20 or 22 after discussions with the party high command.
"It maybe late by eight to 10 days. We will expand the cabinet and those promised will be inducted into the Ministry there is no confusion on that," Yediyurappa told reporters here.
Yediyurappa said he has been asked to go to Delhi after a week to discuss the expansion exercise as BJP National President Amit Shah was busy with the Jharkhand assembly polls and other matters.
"I have already spoken to him. The cabinet expansion will be done after December 20 or 22," he added.
After his government retained the majority in Assembly by sweeping the December 5 bypolls, Yediyurappa had recently said that he would soon leave for Delhi to hold discussions with the BJP central leadership on cabinet expansion.
The ruling BJP had swept the by-elections, winning 12 of the total of 15 seats, helping the four-month-old Yediyurappa government retain majority in the Assembly.
However, there is talk within BJP circles that Ministry expansion may get further delayed as Dhanurmasa (considered an inauspicious month among Hindus) will begin on December 16 and will end with Makar Sankranti in the third week of January.
Meanwhile, lobbying has intensified for ministerial berths, by both BJP old guard and new entrants.
Yediyurappa has made it clear that 11 disqualified MLAs (of the total 13 fielded by BJP) who successfully contested the bypolls on party tickets, will be made Ministers.
Cabinet expansion will not be an easy task as Yediyurappa will have to strike a balance by accommodating the victorious disqualified legislators as he had promised and also make place for the 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.
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Hearing in defamation case against Rahul Gandhi postponed till March 27
Sultanpur (UP) (PTI): Hearing in the defamation case involving Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, which was scheduled to take place on Monday at the MP-MLA Court in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur district, could not take place due to the non-appearance of the plaintiff Vijay Mishra.
The court will now hear this matter on March 27.
Santosh Kumar Pandey, the advocate of the plaintiff, on Monday said that he had submitted a formal application to the court during the previous hearing.
This application requested that the audio and video recordings of the statements made by Rahul Gandhi, which have been presented as evidence, be matched with Rahul Gandhi's authentic voice.
Due to Vijay Mishra's absence, the court has scheduled the next hearing for March 27, when the arguments in the case will be presented.
On February 20, Gandhi, the MP from Raebareli, had appeared before the court and recorded his statement, claiming the case was filed against him due to political vendetta. He had also told the court that the audio and video evidence submitted by the complainant was incorrect and said he would present his own evidence.
The case stems from Gandhi's alleged objectionable remarks against then BJP president Amit Shah during the 2018 Karnataka election campaign.
Following the remarks, Mishra, a resident of Hanumanganj under Kotwali Dehat police station area in Sultanpur, filed the defamation complaint.
In December 2023, the court had issued a warrant against Gandhi after he failed to appear before it. He later surrendered before the court in February 2024 and was granted bail on two surety bonds of Rs 25,000 each.
