D K Shivakumar (L) and H D Kumaraswamy (R).
Credit: PTI File Photos
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Friday formally issued a notification renaming the Ramanagara district as 'Bengaluru South' even as Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy vowed to undo this decision.
Ramanagara will be the headquarters of the Bengaluru South district, the revenue department said in its notification.
The notification was issued a day after the Cabinet decided to rename Ramanagara as Bengaluru South, which was Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's idea.
The state government has sent the notification to the union home ministry, the Surveyor General of India, the National Geo-Spatial Data Centre and other stakeholders.
Kumaraswamy went after Shivakumar, accusing him of inflating land prices with the renaming. "The hidden agenda is clear," he said. "Do they think they will remain in power permanently? Situations will change. The name they’ve changed now will again change in the future," he said.
The Ramanagara district was created when Kumaraswamy was the CM in 2007-08. "Ramanagara has given the state three chief ministers. Kengal Hanumantaiah built the magnificent Vidhana Soudha that the world is in awe of. He challenged Nehru politically. They could’ve named the district after such a great leader. But using Kengal’s name wouldn’t raise their land value, right?" Kumaraswamy jeered.
“Ramanagara district has a history. They do things because they have political power. Let them do, we will see how long they will do,” Revanna, one of the sons of former prime minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda, told reporters.
Senior JD(S) leader HD Revanna, Kumaraswamy's brother, said Ramanagara had its own history. "They (Congress) do things because they have political power. We'll see how long they'll do these things," he said.