Born in Kannadakudru isle near here, Crasta began his career in Mumbai from where, he went to Bahrain. After being there for nearly a decade, he came back to his native place in the year 1964 and founded Crasta Engineering Works in the town. This industry provided employment to several hundred young people of the region. He opened a branch of the concern in Mysore thereafter, and plunged into politics later. Recently, he set up an industry named 'Crasta Fuels' in the town.

In politics too, he earned lot of admirers because of his disarming simplicity and transparent sincerity. He fought his first political battle in the year 1977 as a candidate of Janata Party from Byndoor legislative assembly constituency in the and later, formed a local outfit named 'Poura Samiti,' fought municipal election and succeeded in becoming the president of the local town municipal council. During his presidentship, several roads in the town were concreted and electric street lights were provided.  Crasta is given credit for giving impetus to the famous movement, 'Sundara Kundapura', meant to beautify the city.  He was a secular to the core, and his sterling qualities ensured that he was made the first district president of Janata Dal, Udupi unit.  During this period, the state government formed by Janata Dal, under the chief ministership of J H Patel, was functional.

Crasta later joined the Congress party. Crasta, a good cricketer himself, was responsible for establishing Bahrain Cricket Club when he was in the Gulf and trained many young cricketers. He was the founder of Kundapur Sowharda Vedike and functioned as the president of Catholic Sabha Legal Committee. He remained very active till the very end.

Crasta had been to Bangalore in the company of his family members to take part in a marriage ceremony, and suffered heart attack when he reached Mangalore. He was rushed to a hospital for treatment, but could not be revived.

He is left behind by wife Lionella Crasta, a former municipal vice-president, four sons and three daughters. Various organizations, individuals, institutions etc., have condoled his death.

Abu Dhabi – May 17:  “Konkani Manik”  Wilson Olivera’s new Album (CD)  – Volume 4 entitled “Bombaichen Chedun” was released here in Abu Dhabi during the Mangalorean Day 2009 held at India Social & Cultural Centre – Abu Dhabi.
 
The CD consisting of 12 sentimental as well as pop songs was released by Leo Rodrigues – President of K.C.O.  He was accompanied by Walter Almeida and Ronald Olivera – brother of Wilson.

The lyrics and tunes for this new album are by Wilson Olivera Padukone, Music composed and sequenced by Adrian Gomes – Kuwait.  The CD has been recorded at Al Mahdi Production center – Kuwait
 
Wilson, Rony D’cunha, Zeena Pereira , Julian and Joy have rendered their voices for the songs, which are enchanting and soothing for the ears.
 
Wilson has established himself as a rare singer and gained popularity recently for his melodious voice.

Udupi, May 17: President of the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party D.V. Sadananda Gowda emerged victorious in the newly formed Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency. He defeated his nearest rival K. Jayaprakash Hegde of the Congress by a margin of 27,018 votes.

Mr. Sadananda Gowda secured 4,01,441 votes, while Mr. Hegde polled 3,74,423 votes. Third Front candidate Radha Sundaresh of the Communist Party of India (CPI) secured 24,991 votes. Steven John Menezes of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) bagged 9,971 votes, while Umesh Kumar of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) secured 3,283 votes.

Independent candidates Srinivas Poojary secured 11,263 votes, Sridhar Udupa 3,470, Vinayak Mallya 3,093 and K. Ganapati Shettigar 2,793 votes. Seven candidates, including Ms. Sundaresh, forfeited their deposits.

Counting of votes took place at the T.A. Pai English Medium High School here. Mr. Sadananda Gowda began with a lead of 89 votes in the first round, which went on increasing every round till it reached 27,018 votes in the 18th and final round of counting.

BJP workers raised slogans praising Mr. Sadananda Gowda though Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code was in force around the counting centre. The police had a tough time in controlling the workers when they tried to enter the premises of the counting centre.

Mr. Sadananda Gowda told presspersons said that he had expected to win by a margin of 50,000 votes. Party leaders and workers worked hard for his victory. The Congress and the Third Front mislead the voters, which led to the reduction in the victory margin. Big coffee planters in the constituency did not work in favour of the BJP, he added.

Replying to a question, Mr. Sadananda Gowda said that the results of the Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha seat indicated the true strength of rebel BJP leader K. Rama Bhat Urimajalu.

President of the Udupi District Congress Committee M.A. Gafoor said that though the results were a disappointment, the Congress improved its position this time compared to the 2008 Assembly elections. While the party fared well in the Kaup Assembly segment, it did not do well in Kundapur, Udupi and Karkala segments of Udupi district.

“We accept the verdict of the people. We will introspect over the results,” he added.

Kollur, Mar 20: The annual car festival of the famous Kollur Goddess Mookambika temple in the taluk was held on Thursday March 19. Thousands of devotees from different parts of the state and the country thronged Kollur to pay obeisance to the Goddess on this auspicious occasion.

Priest and trustee K N Govind Adiga guided the religious rituals connected with the festival. The rituals that began with the 'Muhoorta Bali' in the morning, culminated with the pulling of the chariot of the Goddess and community feast in the evening.

Managing trustee of the temple Krishnaprasad Adyantaya, executive officer S L Maruti, religious endowments department superintendent Krishnamurthy and Ramakrishna Adiga together provided the initiation for the rituals connected with the installation of the idol of the Goddess on the colourfully decorated chariot.

Temple trustees Suresh Hebbar, Sablady Manjajaih Shetty, Kishore Kumar Hegde, Uday Nagoor, Sharmila Yogish Acharya, Kusuma Mogaveera and Byndoor MLA K Lakshminarayan were present.