Pramod Madhwaraj is 10th richest state minister in India

Bengaluru, Feb 16: Deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi’s election to the lone vacant council seat, for which a bypoll has been called, is only a formality as the only other candidate in the contest, independent BR Anil Kumar, dropped out on Saturday.

Kumar conveyed his decision to council secretary and returning officer Vishalakshmi. He decided to withdraw from the February 17 bypoll after failing to get support from Congress and JD(S) legislators.

The bypoll was necessitated after sitting member Rizwan Arshad of Congress resigned as he moved to the legislative assembly as an MLA. Rizwan won the Shivajinagar bypoll in December last year.

“Since the notification on candidates in the fray, after the last date of withdrawal, has already been published, irrespective of any candidate’s retirement, the election has to be conducted,” an official said.

Savadi’s victory was always assured as BJP has 119 members in the House.

Still, Ramanagara BJP district president Rudresh and MP BY Raghavendra reportedly approached Kumar, urging him to withdraw. Kumar, however, denied that he was persuaded by BJP.

“I entered the fray thinking secular parties and likeminded MLAs will support me, but that didn’t happen, so I decided to retire,”he said.

A section of Congress and JD(S) politicians, led by former minister HD Revanna, had persuaded Kumar to enter the contest with the hope that disgruntlement among some BJP legislators over Savadi’s promotion as the deputy CM would result in an upset.

Former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy also offered to support Kumar. Siddaramaiah of Congress refused to do the same. Congress and JD(S) did not field any candidates of their own as they don’t have the requisite numbers in the House.

Savadi must get elected to the council before February 20, otherwise he will lose his cabinet role. According to rules, a person who is not a member of either House should get elected within six months after becoming a minister. Savadi took oath on August 20 last year.

Mangaluru: The first-of-its kind Beach Zumba event organized by Veekshitha Arasa on January 26th at Panambur Beach, Mangaluru attracted huge crowd and entertained the masses. Thousands of people who visited the beach last Sunday evening witnessed and danced along with the talented Zumba instructors from Bengaluru and Mangaluru. The show lasted for almost two hours.

The programme was organized by Veekshitha Arasa in association with Panambur Beach Tourism with the cooperation of Panambur Police and sponsorship of AJ Hospital & Research Centre, APD Foundation and SS Arrangers & Caterers.

Panambur Beach Tourism CEO Yatish Baikampady, APD Foundation Trustee Abdullah Rehman and Santhosh Kumar from SS Arrangers and others flagged off the event by releasing saffron, white and green balloons (the colours of Indian tricolor) to mark the nation’s Republic Day. Panambur beach police officials too participated in the inauguration. Veekshitha Arasa’s husband Rohan Lobo, Veekshitha’s parents Bhaskar Arasa and Geetha B Arasa too joined in.

This was done with the message ‘Let the love for health and fitness fly high among the citizens much like the soaring spirit of patriotism’. Speaking on the occasion, Veekshitha said that it was her dream to conduct a Zumba event in the city. “This is my small attempt at promoting fitness among the citizens of Mangaluru. There should be more such events,” she said.

Meenal Dubey, Ashwitha Shetty, Vishal Rai, Aishwarya, Namratha Shekar, Shruthi Keerthiraj, Vinayak Acharya, Kavitha Manish and Urmi were some of the enthusiastic Zumba instructors who performed with Veekshitha.

RJ Nayana and Saravanan Govindaswamy compered the event.

Bengaluru, Jun 9: A 42-year-old founding director of an engineering consultancy firm lost Rs 65,000 to online fraudsters who posed as representatives of a mobile service provider and lured him with the offer of a fancy number recently.

Asif (name changed) received a text message on May 19, informing him that a platinum number, 9099999999, was available and interested people could dial a mobile number to avail it.

“Asif, who runs a mechanical, electrical, plumbing (MEP) engineering consultancy near Shivajinagar, decided to get the fancy mobile number. He called the number and the receiver said they would generate an invoice for his request. After a fake invoice for Rs 64,900 was generated, Asif paid the money through online transaction that day. Asif waited for two weeks for the SIM card with the fancy number to reach him,” an officer said.

East CEN Crime police registered a case of cheating under section 420 of IPC and sections under the Information Technology Act after Asif lodged a complaint on June 6.