Bengaluru: When compared to other parts of prosperous southern parts, North Karnataka has been long considered a less developed region. And the issue seems to be picking steam with a recent bandh call for this reason on Thursday, August 2, to highlight what protesters say that the region has long been neglected. There is a bitter demand for a second capital for the state from the Northern part of the state.
The presentation of the budget was done at the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government in early July and after that, the detractors had said that the budget had budget had favored the southern parts of the state where the JDS has got a good following. The JDS too had won most of its 38 seats in the region – along with that, Chief Minister, HD Kumaraswamy, has also put the blame on the media for stirring up the north Karnataka issue.
The opposition party, BJP, had taken up the issue. B Sriramulu, of BJP, who is a very close associate of the mining millionaire Reddy brothers, had said in the Assembly during a discussion taken up over the budget that demands a separate state would only help increase in the north of the state unless the government of the state stopped neglecting the region. Later on, Mr. Sriramulu clarified to a news channel that this did not mean that he was in favor of separate statehood.
Former chief minister and state party president, BS Yeddyurappa, has also criticized the stance of Mr. Kumaraswamy towards north Karnataka.
The issue saw Lingayat seers gathering in front of the Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi on Tuesday. The Suvarna Soudha is a same as Vidhana Soudha in its looks that is used to host legislature session and was made to help Karnataka control its hold on Belagavi which has been a focus of a dispute with Maharashtra for decades. BJP gets all its support from Lingayats who are a dominant community in the north of the state.
On the political level, there is a general feeling that even within the coalition government, not enough prominence was given to its leaders from the northern region when the issue of allotment came to cabinet portfolios. The Chief Minister, as well as the deputy minister, are from the southern part of the state. Apart from that, former chief minister, Siddaramaiah is a CLP leader and the state party chief, Dinesh Gundu Rao, is also said to be from the south of the state.
The Central government had given special status to the northern Hyderabad-Karnataka in the year 2012 to help the region’s development.
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