Kumaraswamy Says BJP Fuelling Separate North Karnataka Demand, Promises to Visit All Districts

Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy held an emergency meeting with leaders from north Karnataka on Tuesday and promised to visit all 13 districts in the next month or two.

He blamed the opposition BJP for the sudden demand for a separate north Karnataka state, saying that the party was fuelling the demand for electoral gains in 2019.

"I held a meeting with farmers from all 30 districts in the state. Yeddyurappa did not attend it. He is now aiding the separate north Karnataka demand through some disgruntled elements. They are upset that I became CM. That's why they are doing this drama. After the Parliament elections, they will not talk about it," he told party leaders.

Several prominent leaders from north Karnataka regions have opposed the separate state demand. Veteran activist and writer Patil Puttappa, who had participated in the Karnataka Unification Movement in the 1950s, dismissed it as “foolish”.

Kumaraswamy has also found support from BJP leader and former Karnataka DGP Shankar Bidari as he said that blaming him for the neglect of north Karnataka makes no sense.

The BJP has also distanced itself from the demand and party leaders like B Sriramulu and Umesh Katti have gone silent after publicly demanding a separate state. The about turn came after a call for bandh did not get the expected response.

State BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa has now opposed the demand, blaming the JDS for the current crisis.

Top leader of the Congress and MLA M B Patil has rubbished the claims that government was not doing much for the north Karnataka. He said that a lot had been done for the north Karnataka over the decades.

However, he disagreed with Kumaraswamy, saying that the north Karnataka people have voted for the Congress in the recent Assembly elections and asserted that it is a JDS-Congress coalition government.

New-age Kannada activists under the banner of Banasavi Balaga are also planning to launch a Twitter campaign from Wednesday against the demand with the hashtag #KarnatakaVonde, which means ‘One Karnataka’.