Police detain activists over bid to hoist ‘separate state’ flag in Kalaburagi

Police detained activists, including Kalyana Karnataka separate statehood awareness committee president M S Patil Naribol, who tried to hoist the Kalyana Karnataka ‘separate statehood’ flag during Karnataka Rajyotsava celebrations on Saturday.

The committee’s office-bearers and leaders had staged a dharna at Jagat Circle here on Friday.

They took out a procession displaying the separate state flag near Basavanna statue and raised slogans demanding separate statehood, accusing the government of being responsible for the backwardness of the region. 

Speaking on the occasion, Naribol charged that only the name of the region had been changed, but it lagged behind in terms of development.

Noting that the government was meting out step-motherly treatment to the region, he said that the special status accorded to the region through amendment of Article 371(J) of the Constitution was not being implemented properly. Therefore, separate statehood was inevitable, if this region had to be developed, he said.