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Udupi, Apr 25: Senior RSS leader H Somashekhar Bhatt received a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday enquiring about his health.

Bhatt got emotional hearing the Prime Minister's voice at the other end, family sources said.

The Prime Minister called at 8.30 AM and began the conversation with 'Somashekharji' and spoke for about six minutes.

The 85-year-old veteran recalled how the Jana Sangh came to power in Udupi municipality under the leadership of V S Acharya in 1968 and about his association with the Sangh Parivar through the decades and his imprisonment during the Emergency.

Bhatt, former Udupi municipality president, later said it was a rare honour for him.

"I am very glad that PM Modi called and spoke to me. I shared the experience of meeting him at the Jaipur session.

Asked to take care of health and expressed concern," he said.

The Prime Minister has been calling senior functionaries of the party who worked for the Sangh Parivar in the time of adversities to build up the BJP in its present form and seeking advice from them.

He had also called in recent days former MLA Ram Bhat who was elected from Puttur in Dakshina Kannada and D H Shankar Murthy, who was former chairman of the state legislative council, BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel tweeted.

Koppal, Jun 3: Opposition Leader in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said that allegedly there was deep crisis in the state BJP but categorically denied any role of Congress in it.

Addressing a press conference here, the former Chief Minister said 'I and my party have nothing to do with the developments in the ruling party. I came to know through media that some 25 BJP MLAs allegedly not satisfied with the way of functioning of the government. The Congress party is not interested in what is happenings in BJP and if the government falls on its own, then Congress might stake claim to form the government eventually".

Mr Siddaramaiah alleged that the State’s BJP government was trying to 'subvert the Constitution and Panchayat Raj Laws' by postponing election to Gram Panchayats citing spread of COVID-19.

'The Commission has not provided any information so far about the preparation of electoral rolls, fixing of reservation to seats, and calendar of events for holding elections. It is the duty of the Commission to hold elections as per the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act,' he further said.

The EC on May 28 postponed elections to GPs citing 'exceptional circumstances' prevailing in Karnataka following the coronavirus pandemic situation. Elections to as many as 5,800 GPs scheduled to be held by next month with the ending of their terms have been put off, and fresh dates were yet to be announced.

Dr Soofi Anwar, Director Academics of University of Stirling RAK, UAE Campus, has achieved the prestigious professional recognition of Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) UK. He has achieved this milestone through the Stirling Framework for Evidencing Learning and Teaching Enhancement (SFELTE), the Continuing Professional Development Framework (CPD) for learning and teaching at University of Stirling, Scotland, UK. 

He was recognized for this achievement on recently concluded virtual Learning & Teaching Conference-2020 organized by University of Stirling Campus in UK.  He has secured his Ph.D. in Management from University of Azteca, Mexico.

Dr. Soofi Anwar has over 20 years of experience in teaching and academic leadership at higher education level and has worked in leading universities in UAE, Bahrain and India. He was conferred the prestigious Middle East Education Leadership Award, as the Best Professor in Management-2018 in recognition of his academic excellence, exemplary leadership in higher education. Prior to his current role, he has worked on leadership position in Birla Institute of Technology Offshore Campus RAK.

He has completed his MBA from Dept. of Business Administration, Mangalore University in 1999 and his B. Com degree from Canara College Mangaluru.

He has published numerous research papers in management and in the area of teaching and learning in higher education in reputed academic journals and international conferences proceedings. He is a member of editorial board of two leading management journals and engaged in reviewing faculty research publications in the area of management and marketing. 

He is a son of Haji Abdul Khadar Kodijal and Mrs. Mariyamma from Konaje, Mangaluru.