Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has sought the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accord national university status to University of Mysore.

Addressing the gathering at the inaugural session of 103rd Indian Science Congress here on Sunday, the chief minister said that the varsity has already been conferred the title of “innovative university”  and it would be apt and fitting to accord national university status too.

Siddaramaiah said that Karnataka was the only State to set up a vision group on science and technology, currently headed by Bharat Ratna C N R Rao.

The State is home to 3,500 IT companies with Bengaluru having the largest cluster, followed by 3,000 bio-technology companies, that account for one-third of the country’s export, he added.