New Delhi (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced on Friday that the final decision on appointing members to remaining state boards and corporations will be taken on July 16 in Bengaluru.

Congress national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala is scheduled to visit the state on July 16 evening for further discussions before finalising the names, the chief minister told reporters.

The first round of discussions with Surjewala was successful on Thursday. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar was also present in the meeting.

"Surjewala is coming to Bengaluru on July 16, then we are going to finalise the list," Siddaramaiah said before leaving the national capital.

While most top posts in state boards and corporations have been filled, primarily by legislators, operational vacancies at various levels remain and are being addressed through ongoing recruitment drives.

The Karnataka government has appointed 42 MLAs and MLCs as heads of boards and corporations between June 1, 2023, and January 26, 2024. These appointees were granted cabinet rank and associated benefits.

The appointment of members to boards and corporations in Karnataka is a politically significant process that typically involves both elected legislators and party workers, and is often used to balance internal party dynamics and reward loyalty.

 

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Kyiv (AP): Eight people were killed and 27 wounded in a Russian missile strike on port infrastructure in Odesa, southern Ukraine, late on Friday, Ukraine's Emergency Service said on Saturday morning.

Some of the wounded were on a bus at the epicentre of the overnight strike, the service said in a Telegram post. Trucks caught fire in the parking lot, and cars were also damaged.

The port was struck with ballistic missiles, said Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa region.

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Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces hit a Russian warship and other facilities with drones, Ukraine's General Staff said in a statement on Saturday.

The nighttime attack on Friday hit the Russian warship “Okhotnik,” according to the statement posted to the Telegram messaging app.

The ship was patrolling in the Caspian Sea near an oil and gas production platform. The extent of the damage is still being clarified, the statement added.

A drilling platform at the Filanovsky oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea was also hit. The facility is operated by Russian oil giant Lukoil. Ukrainian drones also struck a radar system in the Krasnosilske area of Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.