Mulky : Somappa Suvarna, the president of the Mulky Block Congress, Billawa leader, and former member of the state legislative assembly, died in a private hospital on Jan 28 Saturday. He is the father of 3 daughters and 3 sons.

Suvarna started off as a Hindi teacher at a school in Hejamady Kodi and later got into the hotel business in Kinnigoli with Rukkaram Salian as his partner.

For the past 60 years, he was the active member of the Billawa community. He has served as the president and office bearer of the Mulky Billawa Samaja.

Besides, Mr. Suvarna was part of several social and religious organizations.

In 1990 – 95, he was elected as the MLA, defeating JD (S) candidate Amarnath Shetty. During his tenure as the MLA, he provided houses to hundreds of poor people.

A number of political leaders, including Vinaya Kumar Sorake, B. Janardhan Poojary, Dr. V. S. Acharya, U. T. Khader, Abhayachandra Jain, K. Amarnatha Shetty, and others, have expressed their condolences.