Hyderabad: Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Jaipal Reddy (77) passed away. He died this morning at a private hospital in Hyderabad. He had been under treatment for the past few days due to high fever.

Born in 1942, Reddy entered politics as a student leader at Osmania University. In 1970, he became the Congress MLA. Reddy, who later became known as the speaker, became a prominent figure in the Congress state leadership and national leadership.

Sudini Jaipal Reddy, better known as Jaipal Reddy, is a member of the 14th and 15th Lok Sabha of India. Reddy is a cabinet minister in the 15th Lok Sabha.

New Delhi: The GST rate for electric vehicles has been cut by 5 percent. The decision was taken at a meeting of the GST Council held in Delhi. Last week, the GST Council decided to cut rates from the existing 12 percent. The rate of electric vehicle chargers has also been reduced from 18% to 5%. The new rates will be effective from August 1.

The local government has also decided to exclude GST from the leasing of electric buses. The council agenda included lottery taxation. Kerala has vehemently opposed the proposal to bring a tax on State Lottery and Private Lottery.

Bengaluru: Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar has disqualified 13 MLAs who resigned from Karnataka. Congress MLA Shrimant Patil was also disqualified for not contesting the confidence vote. MLAs have been disqualified for their anti-party activities and for violating the whip.

The move by the Speaker is likely to take place on Monday when the BS Yeddyurappa-led government is seeking a vote of confidence. Eleven Congress MLAs and 3 JD MLAs were today disqualified by the Speaker. Earlier, the Speaker had disqualified 3 legislators. With this, 17 Congress MLAs recommended by the Congress and the JDS were disqualified.

Bengaluru: BS Yeddyurappa to be sworn in Karnataka today. The swearing-in ceremony will be held at 6 pm. He reached the Raj Bhavan and visited the governor to make a claim for the government. BJP and Yeddyurappa are trying to form a government in Karnataka.

Yeddyurappa takes oath as CM for the fourth term. The BJP has the backing of 107 people, including two independents. Meanwhile, there are reports that rebel Congress and JDS legislators based in Mumbai will return to Bengaluru today.