Sangha calls for north Karnataka bandh on Aug 2

Opposing the injustice meted out to North Karnataka in allotment of funds in State budget, the members of Uttara Karnataka Raitha Sangha have decided to call for north Karnataka bandh on August 2.

Speaking to media persons here on Wednesday, Sangha State Unit president Somashekar Kothambri said, for every legitimate demand of north Karnataka, the people of these 13 districts have to stage a protest or sit in for a dharna.

While all these years this discrimination was subtle, the current coalition government led by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is brazenly discriminating between South and North Karnataka by not including many North Karnataka MLAs from this region in his Cabinet.

Giving an example of how Bengaluru got a Metro project worth Rs 50,000 crore, without people demanding for it, he said, while for the people of North Karnataka, each and every demand is fulfilled only after staging a protest, be it the Suvarna Vidhan Soudha, High Court Benches at Dharwad or Kalaburagi, and others.

‘Mahadayi neglected’

While Kumaraswamy can rush to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prevent formation of Cauvery River Authority, the same chief minister would not take any steps regarding Mahadayi issue, for which the farmers of this region are fighting for the last three years.

Pampered south

Kothambri also charged that successive governments have allotted the larger share of funds for development of Bengaluru and surrounding four districts, while completely neglecting North Karnataka, which supplies food grains to the people of entire Karnataka.

“In the 2018 State budget, Kumaraswamy has allotted 82% of total budget outlay for the development of Bengaluru and neighbouring districts,” he claimed.

He said the people of North Karnataka are ready to accept the challenge of Kumaraswamy, who has apparently said that North Karnataka can’t develop without the funds provided by south Karnataka.

“If you (CM) are so confident that North Karnataka will not develop, then send a recommendation to the Union government favouring separate Statehood for the region. We will show how the region can be developed,” he said.

The region has all the parameters which are required for according Statehood, there is a secretariat (SVS), high courts, and collects enough taxes that can sustain the new State, he said.

Support sought

He said the Sangha would approach all the organisations to extend their support for the protest on August 2 and make North Karnataka bandh success by voluntarily closing business establishments, schools, transportation, and others.