Congress MPs from Karnataka on Tuesday urged the party president Sonia Gandhi to impress on the government to get classical language status to Kannada and special status to North Karnataka under Article 371 of the Constitution.

The MPs met Sonia as part of the customary meet once during the Parliament session. They, however, could not talk at length as they were teamed up with the party MPs from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry as well while interacting with Sonia. The members said the demand for the classical language had been pending for the last four years and this should be immediately acceded to.

Similarly, the special status for North Karnataka too was pending. Broaching the subject, Planning Minister M V Rajasekharan said the party could win the goodwill of the people if the status was granted at the earliest. He informed Sonia that Home Minister Shivraj Patil was in favour of granting the status.