BJP accuses Rahul Gandhi of insulting Rajput community, demands apology
The BJP has accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of insulting the Rajput community with his recent remarks on 'Maharajas'.
New Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa expanded his Cabinet by inducting 17 legislators, including one Independent, in a simple ceremony on Tuesday in Bengaluru.
State Governor Vajubhai Vala administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 17 lawmakers at the Raj Bhavan.
The legislators, who took oath in Kannada are Govind Karjol, CN Ashwath Narayan, Laxman Savadi, KS Eshwarappa, R Ashoka, Jagadish Shettar, B Sreeramulu, S Suresh Kumar, V Somanna, CT Ravi, Basavaraj Bommai, Kota Srinivas Poojari, JC Madhu Swamy, Chandrakantagouda Patil, H Nagesh, Prabhu Chauhan and Jollie Shashikala Annasaheb.
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The move came days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah approved the expansion of the three-week-old BJP ministry in Karnataka.
Yediyurappa had met Shah in Delhi on Saturday.
The approval comes nearly a month after BS Yediyurappa, 76, became the Chief Minister for the fourth time on July 26 after the party returned to power following the collapse of the 14-month-old JD(S)-Congress coalition government on July 23.
The coalition government lost the trust vote by 105-99 in the House after three weeks of intense power struggle in the state.
After failing the floor test on the confidence motion he moved on July 18 during the 10-day monsoon session to prove he had the majority, former CM HD Kumaraswamy resigned on July 23.
This will be the first-ever expansion of Yediyurappa’s ministry after he assumed office on July 26.
He had been running a “one-man cabinet” for over 20 days.
Amid pressure from within, the opposition Congress and the JD(S) had hit out at the BJP over the delay in cabinet expansion and had even raised questions about government’s “existence”.
The Congress had claimed that Yediyurappa’s one-man cabinet administration “resembled the President’s rule”.
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