National-level AYUSH expo in Bengaluru from January 21

Bengaluru, May 29: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has allocated portfolios to ministers in his Cabinet, keeping the Finance department with himself while assigning the Irrigation and Bengaluru City Development departments to his deputy DK Shivakumar.

Siddaramaiah took the oath of office with Shivakumar and eight ministers on May 20. He subsequently expanded the Cabinet to its full strength by inducting 24 new ministers on Saturday after rounds of discussions with the Congress' central leadership.

G Parameshwara, who has previously handled the Home department, has once again been allocated the portfolio, MB Patil is the new Large and Medium Industries minister while KJ Geroge has been given the Energy department portfolio, the Karnataka government announced in a notification released late on Sunday.

Apart from the Finance department, the chief minister, who has presented 13 state budgets, has kept Cabinet Affairs, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Intelligence, Information, IT and BT, Infrastructure Development and all unallocated portfolios.

Shivakumar has got the all-important Major and Medium Irrigation and Bengaluru City Development, including the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited.

Shivakumar, who hails from the neighbouring Ramanagara district, has been allocated the Bengaluru City Development department despite five MLAs from the city being ministers in the Cabinet. The portfolio is important keeping in mind the upcoming BBMP polls.

HK Patil has been allocated Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Legislation and Tourism while KH Muniyappa -- a former Union minister for whom this is the first stint in the state Cabinet -- is the new Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs minister.

Ramalinga Reddy has been made the minister for Transport and Muzrai. Amid speculation that Reddy did not want the Transport department, Shivakumar visited his residence and held discussions on Sunday evening.

Dinesh Gundu Rao is the Health and Family Welfare minister while HC Mahadevappa has been given charge of Social Welfare. Public Works has been allocated to Satish Jarakiholi and Revenue to Krishna Byregowda.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank Kharge is the new Rural Development and Panchayati Raj minister, Shivanand Patil has been given Textiles, Sugarcane Development and the Directorate of Sugar, Agricultural Marketing from the Cooperation department.

BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan will take charge of Housing, Wakf and Minority Welfare while Sharanabasappa Darshanapur has been allocated Small Scale Industries and Public Enterprises. Forest, Ecology and Environment has gone to Eshwar Khandre, Agriculture to N Cheluvarayaswamy, Mines and Geology, Horticulture to SS Mallikarjun, Municipal Administration and Haj to Rahim Khan and Labour to Santhosh S Lad.

Laxmi R Hebbalkar, the lone woman in the Cabinet, will take charge of the Women and Child Development and the Disabled and Senior Citizens Empowerment portfolios and Sharanaprakash Rudrappa Patil has been allocated the Medical Education and Skill Development portfolio.

Other ministers and their departments include RB Timmapur (Excise), K Venkatesh (Animal Husbandry and Sericulture), Shivaraj Tangadagi (Backward Class, Kannada and Culture), D Sudhakar (Planning and Statistics), B Nagendra (Youth Services, Sports and ST Welfare), KN Rajanna (Co-operation), Suresha BS (Urban Development and Town Planning) and Mankal Vaidya (Fisheries and Ports, Inland Transport).

Madhu Bangarappa will take over the Primary and Secondary Education portfolio, MC Sudhakar will take charge of Higher Education and NS Boseraju has been allocated Minor Irrigation, Science and Technology.

There was some disgruntlement within the Congress after the Cabinet expansion with several MLAs, who held aspirations of becoming ministers but missed out, having to be pacified by party leaders.

In the May 10 elections to the 224-member assembly, the Congress bagged 135 seats while the BJP and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) secured 66 and 19, respectively.

Mangaluru, Jun 8: A 25-year-old woman, who had recently returned from abroad and purchased a newly built house at Chitranjalinagar near Kumpala under the limits of Ullal police station, has ended life after writing a 24-page long death note. 

The deceased has been identified as Ashwini Bangera, originally from Farangipete, who had recently shifted to Chitranjalinagar. She was reportedly under pressure following after purchasing the new house. 

The death comes within a week after the housewarming ceremony. 

Ashwini had reportedly shared about her tension with one of her friends through WhatsApp chat on Wednesday, June 7, night. The same friend’s call reportedly went unanswered when she tried contact Ashwini on Thursday, June 8 morning. The worried friend rushed to Ashwni’s house and discovered that she had locked herself in her room.

When the door was forcibly opened Ashwini was found hanging from the ceiling fan in the room. 

Ashwini, who belonged to a middle-class family, was employed abroad. She had returned a-month-and-half ago, sources said. 

After purchasing a newly constructed house from one Sangeeta, she had organised a housewarming ceremony on June 3. She had been residing in the new house with her mother Devaki and two cousins. 

In her death note, Ashwini alleged that she had been deceived during the purchase of the house and was currently being harassed by bank officials. She has requested in her death note to handover her iPhone to her boyfriend.

Police suspect that Ashwini, who got entangled in many difficulties killed herself. The body of Ashwini Bangera has been sent for a post-mortem examination to determine the exact cause of death. A case stands registered at the Ullal Police Station. 
 

Bengaluru, June 7: Following its humiliating defeat in the Karnataka Assembly elections, the BJP is all set to revamp its strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections but the prospect of dropping several sitting MPs has created heartburn.

Meanwhile, the ruling Congress, buoyed by the success, is looking to wrest more than 20 seats out of 28 parliamentary constituencies in the state.

Sources in the BJP says that the party is looking forward to credible fresh faces from the party cadres and from government services. Amid strong rumours that most of the sitting MPs may not even be considered for tickets, Bengaluru North MP and former Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda has urged the party high command to issue clarification in this regard.

A total of 13 MPs have approached Sadananda Gowda and he has raised his voice for them, pulling up the party and leaders for remaining tight-lipped and warning that the development will send the wrong signal to the people of the state.

Sadananda Gowda stated on Tuesday that there is an attempt to malign 13 MPs among the total 25 as useless.

"A systematic attempt has been made to bring down the morale and fortitude of senior parliamentarians. The state as well as national leaders must intervene and clear the confusion at this stage," he added.

"There is still a year's time for Lok Sabha elections. At this juncture, MPs are targeted and maligned. I don't know who is behind this. The rumors are spread that 13 MPs have not carried out any development in their constituencies and some have fallen sick and won't be given tickets," he maintained.

Sadananda Gowda maintained that introspection should take place regarding the defeat but there are no souls who would make an attempt to introspect.

Sources in BJP maintained that including Sadananda Gowda, Mangala Angadi, MP from Belagavi, who gave a statement that Jagadish Shettar would win in elections against the BJP candidate would not be considered. G.M. Siddeshwara, MP from Davanagere is also likely to miss a Lok Sabha ticket.

The party had given tickets to 72 new faces in the Assembly elections. However, former CM Basavaraj Bommai stated that the experiment of giving tickets to new faces has backfired for the party. The party think tank is disturbed with the state Assembly results and till date not able to make a decision on the Leader of the Opposition.