Cases against 2,806 Hindus, 341 Muslims withdrawn during Cong rule in Karnataka

Mysuru, Jan 19: The 'City of Palaces', for the first time in history, got a Muslim woman as its first citizen, on Saturday.

Tasneem, a JD(S) Corporator, is elected as the 22nd Mayor of Mysuru. The 34-year-old Tasneem is a second-time corporator, representing Ward number, 26. She defeated BJP candidate Geetha Yogananda, representing Ward no 65 of Srirampura, by a margin of 24 votes. Out of 70 members, who were present during the election, 47 voted for Tasneem, 23 for Geetha Yogananda.

Tasneem thanking the party leaders said the JD(S) gave her an opportunity to serve the city and its people. JD(S) gives more priority for minorities. The party facilitated the first Muslim Mayor, Arif Hussian, in 1996. Later, Congress corporator Ayub Khan served as mayor in 2008.

Women from different communities had served as mayor of the city, but, Tasneem is the first Muslim woman to be elected as Mayor of Mysuru.

Tasneem, a BA Graduate from Maharani's College, was proud for being the first citizen and thanked party supremo H D Deve Gowda, leaders H D Kumaraswamy, MLAs Sa Ra Mahesh, G T Devegowda, K S Rangappa, and her colleagues in the Mysuru City Corporation. Tasneem extended her gratitude to her voters, who voted her for the second time.  

'Mysuru is known for cleanliness. Thus, my first priority is to maintain cleanliness and I will work towards retaining the 'Clean city' tag. The city is facing issues related to street lights among others for many days. I will make prompt attempts to resolve them,' she said.

JD(S) city president K T Cheluvegowda said the party nominated Tasneem for mayor's post as per the suggestion from the party supremo H D Deve Gowda and other leaders. There were other aspirants, but, they were convinced and nominated Tasneem, he said.

Udupi, Jun 16: A young software engineer died on board a bus bound for Udupi’s Kundapura from Bengaluru due to suspected cardiac arrest this morning.

The deceased has been identified as Chaitanya (25), son of Vishnu Murthy, a resident of Kumbri in Koteshwar in Kundapura taluk. He was working for a software firm Bengaluru.

Chaitanya had boarded a ‘Durgamba’ bus from Bengaluru at 9 pm on June 15. At around 6.30 am on June 16, he called his father and informed that the bus had reached Barkur.

When his father called Chaitanya again at around 7.30 am, the bus driver answered the call and told him that his son had fallen ill and been taken to Vinaya hospital in Kundapur.

Vishnu Murthy rushed to the hospital, but was informed by the doctors that Chaitanya was declared brought dead.

A case has been registered at Kundapura police station. Even though it is suspected that he died of cardiac arrest, the exact cause will be known only after the post-mortem.

Karwar, Jan 4: One student died and twelve others were seriously injured when a school bus in which they were travelling from Anantapur district fell into a gorge near Gerusoppa Soolemarki Cross in Honnavar taluk of Uttar Kannada district last night, police said on Saturday.

The deceased student has been identified as T Basha Fakruddin (14).

Police said on that on Friday students of a government school from Anantapur district were on a trip to Jog, Murdeshwar and other places. There were 44 children, nine teachers and four cooking staff in the bus, police said.