Will call meet on forming Chikodi district, says CM

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday promised to call a meeting of elected representatives from Belagavi to discuss carving a new district out of it.

Responding to a demand made by Chikodi MP, Prakash Hukkeri, Siddaramaiah said that during his first tenure as deputy chief minister, he had strongly pitched for carving out new districts.

Accordingly, the then chief minister J H Patel announced some new districts. It was also decided to make Chikodi a new district. But the proposal was shot down following disagreements among local leaders.

But now that a fresh demand has been made to carve out a new district out of Belagavi, Siddaramaiah said, he would call a meeting of elected representatives soon to take a decision in this regard.

The chief minister was speaking at a ceremony in Chikodi to lay the foundation stone for the upgrade of state highway 18 (from Mudhol in Bagalkot district to Nippani in Belagavi).

Siddaramaiah had given a similar assurance on an earlier visit to Belagavi to inaugurate to the police commissionerate.

Earlier, Hukkeri demanded making Chikodi a new district but clarified that he would not raise objections if Gokak was also made a district. But Chikodi must be made a district, he asserted.