More than two years after allegations of abuse of power first surfaced, and four days after the Kerala Lokayukta found him guilty of nepotism and violation of oath of office and held that he should not continue in his post, higher education and minority welfare minister K T Jaleel resigned last week. In a Facebook post, Jaleel said he was resigning on “moral grounds” but it is reliably learnt that CPM and chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, both of whom had supported the minister even at the height of the opposition’s campaign against him, finally decided that it was time that the minister stepped down. “I am happy to say that those who had been baying for my blood can be relieved for now. I have submitted my resignation to the chief minister. Since the past two years, I have been facing a media onslaught,” Jaleel said in the post.
Karnataka CM tests positive for second time
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa tweeted to say that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. In a brief post, Yediyurappa said that he was fine but had been hospitalised on the advice of doctors. The 78 -year-old was earlier hospitalised on August 2, 2020 after he tested positive for coronavirus. The chief minister had been campaigning over the last few days in the north Karnataka constituencies that are voting in by-polls. The announcement came a few hours after Yediyurappa chaired an emergency meeting with Health Minister K Sudhakar and top officials to discuss the Covid situation in the state. Yediyurappa has so far ruled out a lockdown but curfew is in place in seven cities till the 20th.
