Former Karnataka Assembly Speaker K R Pete Krishna no more
Bengaluru, May 21: Former Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly Krishna, popularly known as K R Pete Krishna, died at his Mysuru residence on Friday, sources close to him said.
Krishna (80), suffering from cancer, had undergone treatment at a private hospital in Chennai.
He is survived by wife and a daughter.
The last rites are likely to be performed at his native village Kottamaranahalli in K R Pete taluk of Mandya district on Saturday, sources said.
Krishna had served as Animal Husbandry and Sericulture Minister in S R Bommai cabinet and had represented K R Pete Assembly constituency thrice in 1985, 1994 and 2004 from Janata Party, Janata Dal and JD(S).
He had represented the Mandya Lok Sabha seat in 1996 and served as the Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly from 2004-08.
Krishna was known as a simple and gentleman-politician.
Expressing condolences, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa remembered Krishna's popularity among the people starting from his political career as a member of K R Pete Taluk Board, and the way he upheld the parliamentary values as a Speaker.
Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, expressing grief, said he is deeply pained by Krishna's death.
Several Ministers of the State cabinet, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy, State Congress chief D K Shivakumar have also expressed condolences, while Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah travelled to Mysuru to pay his last respects.
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Over 15 Naxalites killed in encounter in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district
Bijapur (PTI): More than 15 Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security forces on Wednesday in the forests of Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district bordering Telangana where a massive counter-insurgency operation is underway, a senior police official said.
The gunfight broke out this morning in Karregutta hills forest along the inter-state border, he said.
So far, more than 15 Naxalites have been killed and the operation continues, he said.
The ongoing Operation Sankalp, said to be one of the biggest counter-insurgency actions launched in Bastar region, involves around 24,000 security personnel belonging to different units including District Reserve Guard (DRG), Bastar Fighters, Special Task Force (STF), all units of state police, Central reserve Police Force (CRPF) and its elite unit CoBRA.
The operation was launched on April 21 based on inputs about the presence of senior cadres of battalion no. 1, the strongest military formation of Maoists, and Telangana state committee of Maoists.
