Kannada corporators win Belgaum polls

BELGAUM: With the victory in the mayoral elections here on Tuesday, Kannadigas have finally taken over the Belgaum City Corporat ion (BCC). Prashanta Budavi has been elected Mayor and Yunus Babasab Momin as Deputy Mayor of the city.The mayoral elections had become a sensitive and prestigious issue for both Kannada speaking and Marathi speaking corporators.

The support of Urdu speaking cor porators was a question mark for the two till the final moments with both the groups desperate till the end. During the process of filing nominations for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor's posts, both groups seemed confident of victory. But as the end neared, their nervousness was evident.

MES observes Hutatma Divas

MES leaders paying floral tributes to the martyrs at the Hutatma Chowk, in Belgaum.

BELGAUM: Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), the pro-Maharashtrian organisation which demands merger of Belgaum and other Marathi-speaking areas of Karnataka with Maharashtra, observed Hutatma Divas (Martyrs’ Day), here on Thursday.

Hundreds of MES activists paid homage to the people who were killed in the ‘border agitation’ in front of the Kaveri Cold Drink House, here on Thursday morning.

Four among the agitators of MES were killed when the police opened fire at the Hutatma Chowk and one was killed at Nippani, on January 17 in 1956.

MES is observing January 17 every year as Hutatma Divas. The MES activists put floral garlands on the portraits’ of the martyrs and observed two minutes silence at the Chowk. Business establishments adjoining to the Chowk area were closed down for some time.

Former MLA Narayanrao Tarale, Desai, Chavan and others addressed the people. Later, they marched on the streets of Ramdev Galli, Khadebazar, Ganapati Galli, Maruti Galli before reaching back to the Chowk.

MES leaders Deepak Dalvi, former mayor Vijay More, former deputy mayor Prakash Shirolkar were present.