Rajasthan CM’s advisers not to get ministerial status
The Hindu
BJP raises office of profit issue with Governor
The ruling Congress in Rajasthan is finding it difficult to appoint MLAs as advisers to the Chief Minister as well as Parliamentary Secretaries after the Opposition BJP took the issue to the Raj Bhawan through a memorandum. Governor Kalraj Mishra has sought a clarification on the issue of “office of profit”.
The six advisers, appointed after the expansion and reshuffle of the Council of Ministers on November 21, and the Parliamentary Secretaries likely to be appointed shortly may neither get the Ministerial status nor any perks. With this, the Congress is set to face the ire of its legislators who could not be accommodated in the Cabinet expansion, which took it to its full strength of 30.
Those appointed to the position of Chief Minister’s advisers are Congress MLAs Jitendra Singh, Rajkumar Sharma and Danish Abrar, and independent MLAs Babulal Nagar, Sanyam Lodha and Ramkesh Meena. The Congress enjoys support of 12 out of the 13 independent legislators who had shown solidarity with the State Government during last year's political crisis.
The Shakti Scheme in Karnataka has completed its first year, yet the smart cards intended for the beneficiaries remain undistributed. According to Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, while the smart cards have been prepared, their issuance has been stalled due to the absence of electronic ticketing machines (ETMs) in all buses, making them impractical.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashok were engaged in war of words over the Lok Sabha election results on Tuesday, with the former calling the latter “ignorant and entertaining people”. In response, Mr. Ashok said the Chief Minister “sometimes wakes up from deep slumber to exhibit his arrogance and anger”.