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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Bengaluru: The director, K. Ramnarayan, has announced the removal of a song sung by Bollywood playback singer Sonu Nigam from his upcoming Kannada film Kuladalli Keelyavudo. The removal follows a backlash over the singer's remarks at a recent Bengaluru concert, in which he allegedly linked a fan's Kannada song request to the Pahalgam terror tragedy.
In an official press statement, the filmmaker said, "There is no doubt that Sonu Nigam is a good singer. But we are very upset by how he spoke about Kannada recently at a concert.”
The removed song, 'Manasu Haadtade,' composed by Manomurthy and penned by Yogaraj Bhat, which was recorded three months ago and gained popularity with the masses, will now be re-recorded with local Kannada singer Chethan, who will lend his voice for the film version.
Director Ramnarayan stressed the team’s stance, saying, “We cannot tolerate the insult that Sonu Nigam has done to Kannada, so we have removed the song.” Producer Santosh Kumar added that the decision is final and that Sonu Nigam will not be considered for any future collaboration.
The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce also declared on Monday that it would no longer extend cooperation to the singer.