A veteran Congressman, he had been elected to the civic body from Shiribeedu ward three times. He also served at the secretary of Udupi Jamia Masjid for over 25 years.
A resident of Kamal Compound near City Bus Stand, he was known for his friendliness with people of all age group. He was the owner of Allied Sports, located near his City Bus Stand.
He is survived by his wife, three sons, two daughters and a large number of friends and relatives.
Bengaluru: Actor-turned-politician and independent MP from Mandya in Karnataka Sumalatha Ambareesh on Friday joined the BJP.
Veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, state President B Y Vijayendra, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly R Ashoka, national General Secretary in-charge of elections in Karnataka Radha Mohan Das Agarwal and former Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda were among those who welcomed the 60-year-old into the party fold at its state headquarters here.
With BJP ceding Mandya seat to its alliance partner JD(S) in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Sumalatha, after consulting her supporters and wellwishers in Mandya, on Wednesday announced her decision to opt out of the elections, and join the BJP.
The wife of popular film star M H Ambareesh, Sumalatha had earlier staked claim for BJP ticket for re-election from the Mandya seat that was represented by her late husband in the past. But the party convinced her and gave it to JD(S).
JD(S) state President and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is now the alliance's joint candidate from Mandya.
Kumaraswamy on Sunday met Sumalatha, and sought her cooperation in the polls.
As an independent candidate, Sumalatha had won the seat in 2019 by defeating the then Chief Minister Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy of JD(S), by a margin of 1,25,876 votes, with the BJP's support.
It was a bitterly fought election back then. The JD(S) was in an alliance with the Congress at the time.
Sumalatha entered politics in 2019 and plunged into the poll arena as an independent, after the Congress, of which her late husband was a part, denied her the ticket, as the party had ceded the Mandya seat to its then alliance partner JD(S). Both parties were then running a coalition government under Kumaraswamy's Chief Ministership.
Late Ambareesh had served as MP, MLA and Minister in Karnataka and at the Centre in the Congress governments. He was also part of Janata Dal in the past.
In the 2019 polls, Sumalatha rode on a sympathy wave following the death of her husband, who was an icon of sorts in Mandya district.
Popular Kannada film stars like Darshan Thoogudeepa and Yash (Naveen Kumar Gowda), along with her son Abishek Ambareesh had extensively campaigned for her then.
In a gut-wrenching tragedy, three high school boys drowned in the Tunga River in Tirthahalli town in Shivamogga district on April 1 evening.
Ayan, Samar, and Rafan, all aged around 16 years, had been to the Tunga River at Rama Mantap in the town after breaking the Ramadan fast (iftar) in the evening.
All three were Class 10 students of a local high school and close friends.
Around 8 p.m., Tirthahalli police received information that the boys drowned.
With the help of local people, the bodies were retrieved from the river around 11 p.m. Hundreds of people gathered at the river bank. The bodies have been shifted to the government hospital in the town.
Tirthahalli Police have registered an unnatural death report.
BJP MLA Arabail Shivaram Hebbar’s son Vivek Hebbar on Thursday, 11 April, joined the Congress party along with his supporters at Banavasi in Uttara Kannada district.
After quitting the BJP, Vivek Hebbar joined the party in the presence of state Congress vice president and former MLC Ivan D’Souza and other local party leaders.
Speculations have been rife about his father Shivaram Hebbar, an MLA from the Yellapur Assembly segment, also planning to join the Congress, ever since he did not turn up for voting during the polls to four seats of the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka held on 27 February.
The senior Hebbar’s absence from voting, despite a party whip, had caused embarrassment to the BJP. He had, however, later attributed his absence to poor health.
The BJP had also issued notice to him, which he responded to.
Shivaram Hebbar had recently met Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief DK Shivakumar but claimed that the meeting was about water issues in his Assembly segment.
The senior BJP leader was earlier with the Congress. He was among 17 Congress-JD(S) legislators, who had quit from their parties, which ultimately led to the collapse of the then HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in July 2019.
Shivaram Hebbar had subsequently won the by-poll on a BJP ticket and served as a minister in the then government of the saffron party.
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