Bengaluru: Speculation is rife that Chief Minister H.D. Kumarswamy may announce a three-way division of Belagavi district during his visit to district on Saturday with Gokak offered to the Jarkiholi brothers, who have rebelled against the coalition government. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior leader in the Congress and confidante of former chief minister Siddarmaiah disclosed that Mr Kumaraswamy would reiterate his predecessor and co-ordination committee chairman, Siddaramaiah's assurance to the people of Belagavi in 2017.
“Splitting of Belagavi has been a long pending demand, but no government has been able to fulfil it, as everyone is aware of how sensitive Belagavi is over its linguistic and border issues. Although, it must be said, this has time and again worked as a 'dangling carrot' policy to quell the rebellion in the district, even in 2017, it was at the behest of Ramesh Jarkiholi, that Siddarmaiah was forced to make this statement," a source said.
The close associate of Kumarswamy strongly feels however that he may not commit the same mistake of 2007, when he innocuously stated that he was ready for the proposal to split Belagavi into three. "This led to strong protests across the district. Although, he successfully carved out two districts- Ramanagara and Chikkaballapur - then, he was forced to drop the plan to split Belagavi three ways as that would make one part Marathi dominated, making it easier for Maharashtra to lay claim to it," the source explained, maintaining Kumaraswamy may have second thoughts on making an announcement on splitting the district.
