Karnataka cabinet expansion or reshuffle? The options before CM Yediyurappa

Politics

Yediyurappa is in a spot: He has to keep his promise to legislators who brought down the Congress-JD(S) government and control the discord within the BJP.

Theja Ram

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One of the most daunting tasks ahead for Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa is to decide whether he should reshuffle his cabinet and face the ire of disgruntled MLAs. Yediyurappa, who is already struggling to maintain control over the party in Karnataka, is in a difficult situation as he has to keep his promises to legislators who helped bring down the Congress-JD(S) government and also control the discord within the party as a fallout of the reshuffle.  Yediyurappa will induct a total of seven ministers if he chooses to reshuffle the cabinet.This after dropping five ministers.Sources close to the Chief Minister said that so far, Yediyurappa has two choices -- to expand the cabinet and fill up three of the seven vacant berths, or to reshuffle the cabinet and drop five existing ministers and replace them with the existing aspirants.  Who is to be inducted if there is an expansion? If Yediyurappa decides to expand the cabinet, he will induct Hukkeri legislator Umesh Katti, Raja Rajeshwari Nagar MLA Munirathna Naidu and Member of Legislative Council R Shankar alias Pendulum Shankar. In August 2019, when Yediyurappa inducted 17 ministers into his cabinet, his long-time friend and ally, Umesh Katti was kept out. Subsequently, in February this year, when 10 new ministers were inducted, Umesh Katti was once again left out. In order to reassure his friend, Yediyurappa had openly promised him that he would be appointed a minister in the next round of expansion or reshuffle.  Similarly, during the poll campaign for the RR Nagar bye-elections, BS Yediyurappa, had made a startling claim. He had said that Munirathna would be guaranteed a cabinet berth if he won the bye-elections. With Munirathna winning with a huge margin, Yediyurappa now has the obligation of keeping up his promise, which he made rather publicly.  When bye-elections were held for 15 constituencies in December 2019 after Congress and JD(S) MLAs resigned to bring down the coalition government, Ranebennur was also one among them. The former legislator Pendulum Shankar was not given the ticket to contest the bye-polls. Instead BJP leader Arjunkumar Pujar contested and won. R Shankar was subsequently nominated to the Legislative Council. Since he was disadvantaged, Yediyurappa had assured him that he would get a berth, if not for other BJP leaders.  If Yediyurappa decides to expand the cabinet, he would have to face the fallout of disgruntled leaders like MTB Nagaraj, his close friend Renukacharya and several other MLAs in the party. If there is a reshuffle BS Yediyurappa is also mulling over a reshuffle due to mounting pressure from former Congress and JD(S) rebels, who are now with the BJP. Sources close to the CM said that Yediyurappa is mulling over dropping one of the Deputy Chief Ministers and four other ministers to replace them with existing aspirants.  Yediyurappa wants Laxman Savadi to be dropped from the DCM post and he wants to offer it to Umesh Katti. This would ensure that the representation from north Karnataka is not affected. Besides, other leaders likely to be dropped include Minister for Mines and Geology  CC Patil, Minister for Women and Child Development Shashikala Jolle, Minister for Animal Husbandry, Haj and Wakf Development Prabhu Chavan and Minister for Muzrai, Fisheries, Ports and Inland Transport Kota Srinivas Poojary. These portfolios are likely to be given to Shorapur MLA Narasimha Nayak alias Raju Gouda, Hiriyur MLA Poornima Srinivas, Yelaburga MLA Halappa Achar, MLC MTB Nagaraju and Honnali  MLA Renukacharya, who is also CM Yediyurappa’s political advisor.  The others in the race include BJP MLC CP Yogeeshwar, Mahadevapura MLA Aravind Limbavalli and MLC AH Vishwanath. However, BJP sources said that MLAs from Hyderabad-Karnataka region have been lobbying for representation from one of the districts. Several of the MLAs are said to have lobbied for Raju Gouda with the national leaders too. These leaders are also against appointing CP Yogeeshwar to the cabinet, sources said.  Sources close to BJP National General Secretary BL Santhosh said that Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj had requested the high commd to not approve allocating a berth to AH Vishwanth, stating that his ideology does not match the party’s stand on several issues. Vishwanath, who had defected from the JD(S), was nominated as MLC after much lobbying by Yediyurappa. Sources say that the high command too is not amenable to offering him a ministerial berth.

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Labs sound alarm on coronavirus testing capacity, supplies

The nation’s testing capacity has increased, but not fast enough to keep pace with the swarm of new cases.

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2 Mysuru cops throw away police files to hamper colleagues’ promotions, suspended

Police

An internal investigation has been opened into the matter.

TNM Staff

Woman who found the files that were thrown away

Two policemen belonging to the Mounted Police Company in Mysuru have been suspended after they threw away the personnel information files belonging to three constables in the division. The two officers allegedly threw away the files of the three constables in an attempt to stop the promotion they were due to receive in the next three days.  The video of an aged destitute woman holding personnel history files that belonged to the Mysuru police went viral on Thursday. The 60-year-old woman found files belonging to police officers attached to the Mounted Police Company, strewn about on the road in the city’s JC Nagar, near the KARP Mounted Police HeadQuarters.  On Wednesday, officers in the Mounted Police Company were approached by employees of Trin Trin, the company providing cycle sharing option in Mysuru. Two of the company’s employees had found personnel information files belonging to three policemen at the Trin Trin Cycle stand. The employees claimed that a destitute woman was in possession of the files and that she wanted to sell it to the paper pickers in exchange for money.  Watch: Destitue woman finds police files that were thrown on the road When officers from the Mounted Police Company went to the cycle stand, they found the woman in possession of a black bag, which contained the files. The officer tried to question her regarding the files, but the woman dropped the bag and fled. This incident was recorded on camera and went viral on Thursday.  According to the Mysuru Police, two policemen with the rank of superintendent named Nagaraj ad Bopanna allegedly threw the personnel files belonging to head constable Mallikarjun and constables Raje Gowda and Mallanna. While Mallikarjun was to be promoted to the rank of assistant sub-inspector, Raje Gowda and Mallanna were due to be promoted to the rank of head constables. Sources with the Mounted Police Company told TNM that Nagaraj and Bopanna wanted to stop the three other policemen from receiving their promotions.  “Without the personnel information file, administrative matters like promotions and other things don’t happen. An investigation has been opened,” the source said.  Speaking to TNM, DCP Nagaraj, who is heading the internal inquiry into the matter said that CCTV footage from the headquarters has been procured and the matter is being probed. “The two policemen have been suspended until the inquiry is complete,” he said. 

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Bengaluru airport urges passengers to dispose of used PPE kits at designated spots

COVID-19

Currently, used PPE is found strewn across the airport campus, posing a health hazard to both passengers as well as the staff, BIAL said in a statement.

TNM Staff

PTI

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), the operator of Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, has made an appeal to its passengers to use the bio-waste bins, deployed at various locations across the airport, to dispose of their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). As part of its measures to contain the spread of the virus, BIAL said it has set up 139 bio-waste bins of different sizes, across the airport premises, to ensure bio-waste is disposed of responsibly and ethically. The airport authority also stressed said that food, bottles and other waste items must not be thrown into these bio-waste bins. Currently, used PPE is found strewn across the airport campus, posing a health hazard to both passengers as well as the staff, the airport said in a statement. “Bengaluru Airport collects almost 800 to 1,000 kilograms of biowaste every day. In an effort to reduce COVID-19-related PPE waste, BIAL is managing the disposal of biowaste in a scientific manner, as stipulated by the government. With travel set to increase during this festive season, BIAL requests passengers to dispose of used masks, gloves and other protective gear at designated biowaste bins, placed at convenient locations across the Airport,” said a BIAL spokesperson. In addition to biowaste bins, an ample number of other bins – dry waste, wet waste and colour-coded bins – have been placed to collect garbage such as food, plastic, metal and paper. “The use of proper personal protective equipment, like masks, gloves, face shield and hazmat suits are critically important in the fight against the spread of COVID-19. This has led to the problem of used PPE contamination at the Airport. Once discarded, they become an alarming health and environmental hazard for both passengers and housekeeping staff. At Bengaluru Airport, we request passengers to be mindful of this issue and maintain their commitment to keeping their city and airport clean by using designated bins for PPE disposal,” the spokesperson added.

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Bengaluru’s Church Street to get Rs 18 crore worth of streetlights

Urban infrastructure

Citizen activists called the move a gross misuse of funds to spend so much on a 750-meter stretch.

Soumya Chatterjee

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The city of Bengaluru may be synonymous with pothole-ridden roads and garbage dumped around the streets but that does not stop the authorities from spending money on beautifying only one road. It was only in 2018, that the 750 m road of Church Street at the heart of the city's central business district connecting Museum Road and Brigade Road underwent a Rs 9 crore cobblestone makeover under the TenderSURE (Specifications for Urban Roads Execution) model. On Thursday, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister JC Madhuswamy announced that another Rs 18.75 crore will be spent to install “international level” LED streetlights for further beautification of the same road following a cabinet meeting. At present, for a kilometer of road, the BBMP spends Rs 6 lakh on average to install 10 street lamps along with necessary equipment such as poles, electric boards, and wirings.  The move has attracted criticism from the public. Tara Krishnaswamy, the co-founder of Citizens for Bengaluru, a pan-city activist group, said it’s a ridiculous amount of money to spend. “Are they going to gold plate Church Street with this much money? They could have lit 300 km of Bengaluru’s roads with the money spent only on a single street. In a city where so many streets are dark, this is just extravagance and an elitist way of doing things for the city. This is a gross misuse of funds and no street in the city is worth Rs 18 crore to be spent on lights.” She added, “If the state government does not know where to spend money, the money could have been given to BBMP where the Commissioner made an appeal that there is no money to repair dug up roads. The money could have been spent to minimize pedestrian fatalities which occur due to inadequate lighting. There are places where streetlights can be installed and will prove beneficial for women so that they are not harassed or old people do not trip and fall and get injured.” Another activist Reshma Udupi,  Forum for Urban Governance and Commons, also criticized the move calling it a “waste of money”. She said, “What is the need for spending money on lighting when already the road has adequate lights? Instead, this money can be spent on repairing roads or put lights where there is complete darkness and no sign of street lamps,” she said. She added, “The government should focus on overall development and not be a government for only a few select people or areas.”

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BBMP delays salaries for marshals helping to enforce COVID-19 rules

Worker Rights

It was only on Wednesday that they got their salaries for the month of September and their dues for October are yet to be cleared.

Soumya Chatterjee

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The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has delayed the payment of salaries to marshals engaged in enforcing solid waste management rules in the city for the last two months. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the marshals have also been enforcing rules related to physical distancing and masks, and collecting fines for violations.   \Speaking to TNM, Deputy Chief Marshal Colonel Basavaraj said that all the marshals who were deployed in this work got their salary for the month of September only on Wednesday. Their dues for October are yet to be paid. “We are trying to ensure that all our staff get the salary for October by tomorrow or by the end of the week so that we can enjoy the Diwali festival happily with our families,” he added, stating that while delayed salaries are not new, this was the first time that salaries were left pending for more than a month. Recently, marshals were also given the task of imposing fines on a minimum number of 10 persons for not wearing masks on a daily basis. TNM could not reach BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad or any other official from the organisation for a comment. D Randeep, Special Commissioner, Solid Waste Management (SWM), said that he will look into the matter and sort it out. Not only marshals deployed to enforce SWM rules, even marshals who have been engaged in protecting the city’s lakes have been getting their salaries late for the last two months. Earlier, the BBMP had faced criticism for not paying pourakarmikas, who keep the city clean, on time and delaying their salaries for months. The pourakarmikas had to hold multiple protests against the BBMP hierarchy for years to ensure that their salaries were paid by the civic body. Even during the recent COVID-19 lockdown, BBMP pourakarmikas were penalised for not reporting to work even though there were no transport arrangements for them.

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Bengaluru cop suspended for tipping off suspects in drug case

Crime

The head constable allegedly tipped off the accused about potential arrests by the CCB.

TNM Staff

Representation photo

A police officer attached with the Sadashivanagar Police Station in Bengaluru has been suspended for allegedly tipping off persons accused in a drug case involving former Congress Minister Rudrappa Lamani’s son Darshan. The head constable of the Sadashivanagar Police Station, HC Prabhakar has been suspended for allegedly colluding with the accused and tipping them off as the Central Crime Branch sleuths were on the lookout for the accused, who were caught red-handed with hydroponically-grown marijuana two days ago.  The CCB caught one of the accused in the case -- Sujay outside the Bengaluru Foreign Post Office with 500 gm of hydroponically-grown marijuana on November 9. One gram of the substance is estimated to cost between Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 in the market. The CCB learned that Sujay and his associates, Hemanth, Prasid Shetty and Suneesh Hegde -- a real estate businessman and resident of Sadashivanagar -- had allegedly ordered the marijuana on the darknet by paying bitcoins.  While the CCB nabbed Sujay, Hemanth and Suneesh had escaped from the CCB’s net. Sources said that head constable Prabhakar allegedly tipped them off regarding the CCB’s plan to arrest them after they nabbed Sujay.  CCB sources said that Hemanth fled to Kodagu, his home town, due to fear of being arrested. While Suneesh and another accused Prasid Shetty had fled to Goa. Hemanth, who is a friend of Darshan Lamani, allegedly called him from Kodagu, seeking his help.  Darshan Lamani allegedly asked Hemanth to travel to Haveri, by promising him that he would be safe. Hemanth and Darshan lamani allegedly stayed at a lodge in Haveri town, before the duo travelled to Goa. They met up with Suneesh and Prasid in Goa, the CCB source said.  “The accused kept moving from one hotel to another. They had even changed mobile phones. With the help of the Goa police, we were able to track them down and arrest them,” the CCB source said.  Investigators claim that parties were held in Suneesh Hegde’s residence in Sadashivnagar where drugs were procured and consumed. “The drugs were procured from the darknet and delivered to the foreign post office. We have been tracking foreign shipments from certain countries regularly and we received information that three people would arrive to pick up the consignment on November 9. But only one person showed up. After probing internally, we learned that a police constable may have been involved. He has been suspended pending inquiry,” the CCB source added. 

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