Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa to talk to Kerala CM on renaming villages

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday said he would talk to his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan to stop the renaming of villages in the Kannada-speaking regions of Kasargod and Manjeshwara, his office said in a statement.

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Karnataka Border Area Development Authority (KBADA) chairperson C Somashekhara met Yediyurappa and urged him to do something about the redesignating the Kannada names of villages into Malayalam.

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“The CM responded positively and he said he was aware of the issue. He said he would speak to Kerala chief minister,” the chief minister’s office (CMO) said.

Yediyurappa also assured that he would write to Vijayan that it was not right to rename villages whose Kannada names bear cultural and historic significance. The statement noted that Kannadigas and Malayalis live in harmony in the Kasargod and Manjeshwara regions. Yediyurappa will write to Vijayan asking him to put on hold renaming of the villages.

Somashekhara told Yediyurappa of the possibility that the decision to rename the villages might be that of the local bodies without the knowledge of the Kerala government.