Karnataka Cabinet approves renaming Bengaluru Rural as Bengaluru North; Bagepalli is now Bhagya Nagar

Bengaluru: The state Cabinet went on a renaming spree on Wednesday, as it decided to rename Bengaluru Rural district as Bengaluru Urban, along with two other name-changing decisions.

The decision to rename the district comes soon after Ramanagara district – the home district of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar – was renamed as Bengaluru South, amid opposition by the BJP-JD(S) combine.

The government has articulated that the renaming helps to build ‘Brand Bengaluru’ and will facilitate the flow of investments to these areas. The district comprises four taluks (Devanahalli, Doddaballapur, Hosakote and Nelamangala). Three of these constituencies have Congress legislators.

The Cabinet also decided to rename Bagepalli taluk in Chikkaballapura district as Bhagya Nagar. Bagepalli borders Andhra Pradesh and has a significant Telugu-speaking populace.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said they had renamed the taluk, as ‘palli’ was a Telugu word.

When a reporter told the CM that palli was in fact a ‘Halegannada’ (Old Kannada) word, Siddaramaiah said: “I don’t know Telugu, do you know?? In our side, Palli is used for Halli (Lizard). Even the MLA has recommended a name change.” S N Subba Reddy of the Congress is the current Bagepalli MLA.

The Bengaluru City University - one of the three universities trifurcated from the original Bangalore University - will be renamed after the late former prime minister Manmohan Singh. The university will now be known as Dr Manmohan Singh Bengaluru City University.