JOIN USCM to meet PM on H-K issue today
Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said on Monday that he will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday over the controversy surrounding the proposed amendment to Article 371 of the Constitution to grant special status to the Hyderabad-Karnataka (H-K) region.
He was speaking to reporters after launching several development works in Bagalkot and Bijapur districts.
The chief minister is leaving for the capital Monday night. Shettar said a meeting of then in-charge ministers of the six Hyderabad-Karnataka districts, all MPs from Karnataka and Union ministers from the State will be held in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Once a discussion on the amendment is held, meetings will be held with the prime minister and the home minister to press for the tabling of the amendment bill in the winter session of Parliament.
The chief minister said the State government had no issues over the bill, except that reservation should be provided in education and employment for people from the region based on the Telangana model.
“Former chief ministers Dharam Singh, H D Kumaraswamy and B S Yeddyurappa had also written to the Centre seeking special status to the H-K region, based on the Telangana model. Our letter to the Centre in this regard is based on the suggestions by the parliamentary standing committee,” he said.
Shettar said the amendment to Article 371 of the Constitution was not a prestige issue for the BJP and all its Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members would vote for it, if it was introduced in the winter session.