Karnataka Speaker U T Khader condoles death of Shamanur Shivashankarappa
Belagavi (PTI): Karnataka Assembly Speaker U T Khader on Monday condoled the death of veteran politician Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
The 94-year-old Davangere South MLA died in a private hospital on Sunday after a prolonged illness. His last rites will be performed in Davangere on Monday.
Mourning his demise, Khader said it is a painful day for the House as the sitting member of the state Assembly and former minister has died.
"His contribution to society is vast, not only politically but also religiously, socially and culturally," Khader told reporters here.
In his 94 years Shivashankarappa demonstrated how to take everyone along and used to solve many problems with a smile and patience.
The Speaker said the Assembly members will pay condolences to the departed soul, after which the session will be adjourned for Tuesday.
To a question whether he was looking to increase business hours this time, Khader said there is a business advisory committee that will look into it.
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England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
