Portfolio allocation will be done on Monday, says Yediyurappa
Bengaluru, Feb 8: Amid growing pressure from newly inducted ministers for plum ministries, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday said the portfolio allocation will be done on February 10.
"Everything is ready but since today (Saturday) is a holiday, we will allot portfolios on Monday morning," Yediyurappa said.
While rewarding with Cabinet berth 10 defectors who helped the BJP bring down the Congress-JD(S) coalition and come to power, Yediyurappa had on Thursday announced that the portfolios will be allotted before Saturday.
Yediyurappa also ruled out going to Delhi to decide filling the remaining six vacant ministerial posts.
"At present I am not going but the portfolio distribution will happen on Monday," Yediyurappa told reporters here on Saturday.
According to BJP sources, Yediyurappa apparently deferred the portfolio allocation allegedly due to pressure from Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, who has been insisting upon water resource department.
On the other hand, the BJP leadership wants to give him public works department, they said.
Jarkiholi had a detailed discussion at Yediyurappas house till the early hours of Saturday and left the place displeased, the sources claimed.
The cabinet expansion on Thursday led to discontent among a section of "native" BJP leaders who were left out of the exercise as the party sought to contain dissidence in the face of intense lobbying for berths by several contenders.
The expansion has taken the strength of the Cabinet to 28, with six vacancies now.
In the first expansion last August, 17 ministers were inducted.
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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.”
