Karnataka CM Yields to pressure, reallocates portfolios to ministers

News Network

January 22, 2021

Bengaluru, Jan 22: A day after some ministers threw a tantrum over their portfolios, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday reallocated some of them in yet another minor rejig to mollify his Cabinet colleagues.

MTB Nagaraj, who was unhappy with the Excise portfolio, has been given Municipal Administration and Sugar. The Excise portfolio will now be headed by K Gopalaiah.

Medical Education Minister J C Madhuswamy has also been given the charge of Haj and Wakf. Forest Minister Aravind Limbavali got Kannada & Culture additionally.

The state’s new Horticulture and Sericulture minister will be R Shankar. On Thursday, Yediyurappa had given Horticulture and Sugar to Gopalaiah.

Youth Empowerment & Sports Minister K C Narayana Gowda is also in charge of Planning, Programme Monitoring & Statistics, a portfolio that was with Yediyurappa.

On Thursday, Nagaraj complained that he would have “nothing to do” as Excise minister. Similarly, Gopalaiah and Gowda were not happy with the portfolios they got. Madhuswamy was miffed that the minor irrigation portfolio was taken from him.

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Why Mangaluru Could Become India’s Next Offshore Wind Energy Hub

News Network

February 3,2026

Dakshina Kannada MP Capt Brijesh Chowta has urged the Centre to give high priority to offshore wind energy generation along the Mangaluru coast, citing its strategic importance to India’s green energy and port-led development goals.

Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha under Rule 377, Chowta said studies by the National Institute of Oceanography have identified the Mangaluru coastline as part of India’s promising offshore wind ‘Zone-2’, covering nearly 6,490 sq km. He noted that the region’s relatively low exposure to cyclones and earthquakes makes it suitable for long-term offshore wind projects and called for its development as a dedicated offshore wind energy zone.

Highlighting the role of New Mangalore Port, Chowta said its modern infrastructure, multiple berths and heavy cargo-handling capacity position it well as a logistics hub for transporting and assembling large wind energy equipment.

He also pointed to the presence of major industrial units such as MRPL, OMPL, UPCL and the Mangaluru SEZ, which could serve as direct buyers of green power through power purchase agreements, improving project viability and speeding up execution.

With Karnataka’s peak power demand crossing 18,000 MW in early 2025, Chowta stressed the need to diversify renewable energy sources. He added that offshore wind projects in the Arabian Sea are strategically safer compared to the cyclone-prone Bay of Bengal.

Calling the project vital to India’s target of 500 GW of renewable energy by 2030, Chowta urged the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to initiate resource assessments, pilot projects and stakeholder consultations at the earliest.

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