Belgaum: Although the idea has no takers even among his own partymen, former minister and BJP MLA from Hukkeri, Umesh Katti continues to demand separate statehood for north Karnataka.
On Friday he even offered to resign as MLA if it helped his dream come true. “If the situation demands, I am ready to sacrifice my position as MLA for the creation of a new state,'” he told reporters near Chikkodi.
He believes a new state should be created from the 13 districts of north Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka to pave way for development of the entire stretch bordering the Tungbhadra river.
Pointing out that the districts of Belgaum, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Dharwad, Karwar, Haveri and Gadag in north Karnataka and Raichur, Gulbarga, Bidar, Koppal, Bellary and Shahpur in Hyderabad-Karnataka together account for a population of three crore, he argued that the region has the potential to become a separate state.
“I will stick to my demand although many leaders claim they are against the idea. In reality, several leaders and outfits would like to have another state carved out of Karnataka but are not ready to come out in the open on this,” he claimed, demanding that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah tell the people what his government had done for the development of north Karnataka.
“The Congress had assured before it came to power that it would grant Rs 10,000 crore annually for development of the region. It should now tell us how much it has released so far for its development,” he said.
Coming down hard on energy minister, D K Shivakumar for advising the BJP to take action against him for demanding a separate state, he recalled that some senior Congress legislators too had recently agreed that north Karnataka was badly in need of development.
