Here are the big stories from Karnataka today

Karnataka Today newsletter: BJP expels MLA B.P. Yatnal for six years over ‘anti-party’ remarks, and more

BJP MLA from Bijapur City Basanagouda Patil Yatnal has been expelled from the party for six years for his statements against the party and senior leader B.S. Yediyurappa. In a letter dated March 26, 2025, the party’s Central Disciplinary Committee said it had considered his response to the show-caause notice sent to him on February 10, 2025, “and has taken serious note of the repeated violations of party discipline.”

Despite assurances of good behaviour in response to earlier show-cause notices, the committee found that he had not kept his word. It had decided, therefore, to expel him for a period of six years “with immediate effect” from the primary membership of the party. The letter, signed by Member Secretary of the committee, Om Pathak, further stated that Mr. Yatnal is also stripped of any party position he may have held until now.

Congress MLC Yathindra Siddaramaiah claimed that Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar has no role in the alleged cases of honey-trapping. Mr. Yathindra, who is also the son of CM Siddaramaiah, sought to make it clear that neither Cooperation Minister K.N. Rajanna, who raised the issue in the recent legislature session, nor any Congress leader had named any person behind the honey-trapping cases.

When it was brought his notice that there is speculation that MLAs supporting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had been targeted in the honey-trapping instances, Mr. Yathindra referred to the reported attempts on even BJP MLAs and wondered if it meant that the saffron party legislators too are backing Mr. Siddaramaiah.

In a setback to the Congress government, Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has returned the Greater Bengaluru Governance Bill, 2024, which was passed by the State legislature during the just-concluded budget session, seeking some clarifications. The Bill proposes to split Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike into a maximum of seven city corporations in the Greater Bengaluru Area.

Speaking at a press conference in Bengaluru on March 26, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs H. K. Patil said the Governor has returned the Bill seeking some clarifications. Along with a note on clarifications, the Bill would despatched to Raj Bhavan again seeking the assent of the Governor, Mr Patil said.

The Manipal Foundation has donated 23 new portable, battery-operated refrigeration devices, which will help the Karnataka Health Department maintain necessary cooling when vaccines are transported from primary health centres to distant sub health centres. Each of the new devices weighs 6.4 kg and costs ₹2 lakh. The State Government permitted a trial of this new device.