The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Assembly mourns 11 leaders

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Tuesday, Jun 24, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Assembly mourns 11 leaders

Special Correspondent

They included Basavarajeshwari and Blasius D’Souza
Basavarajeshwari was the State’s first woman Speaker

BANGALORE: The Legislative Assembly paid rich tributes to 11 leaders, including the former Union Minister Basavarajeshwari and the former Law Minister Blasius M. D’Souza, who passed away in recent months.

As soon as the House met on Monday, Speaker Jagadish Shettar moved the obituary reference and recalled the contribution of Basavarajeshwari, Blasius D’Souza, M.M.J. Sadyojata, Eva Vaz, D. Kariyappa Gowda, T. Parthasarathi, M. Obanna Raju, Dodda Boregowda, H.C. Shivashankarappa, Channayya Wodeyar, and K.S. Veerabhadrappa.

Mr. Shettar said Basavarajeshwari had devoted herself to social service and fought for women’s rights. She was the first woman Speaker of the Assembly. She was born in 1922 in Bellary district. She was a member, at different times, of both Houses of the legislature and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Bellary constituency three times.

She was mainly responsible for the introduction of the Hampi Express train service, he said.

Congress leader Blasius D’Souza also served as an MLA and an MLC. He represented the local bodies in the Council. He was a lawyer by profession, but developed a passion for politics. Elected two times from Mangalore, he was a member of the S. Bangarappa and M. Veerappa Moily ministries.

Sadyojata was a Minister in the Gundu Rao government while Eva Vaz represented Chikmagalur constituency and was Food and Civil Supplies and Education Minister. Kariyappa Gowda represented Hunsur constituency while T. Parthasarathi represented Malleswaram.

Obanna Raju was elected to the seventh Assembly from Chamarajpet constituency and Dodda Boregowda was member of the fourth and seventh Assemblies. Shivashankarappa was elected to the seventh Assembly from Challakere while Channayya Wodeyar served as MP and MLC. Veerabhadrappa was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977 from Bellary.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa said that with the death of Basavarajeshwari the State had lost an eminent personality who served in various capacities in the State and at the Centre. She had taken up several programmes as Minister for Social Welfare.

Leader of the Opposition M. Mallikarjun Kharge said Basavarajeshwari was responsible for the opening of the anganwadi centres in the State.

The former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, T.B. Jayachandra, Srinivas Prasad and Amare Gouda (Congress) and Ministers B. Sriramulu, G. Karunakar Reddy and Yogish Bhat (BJP) also expressed their condolences.

Silence

The members observed a minute’s silence in memory of the 11 leaders.

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