Amid differences over Karnataka government's plan to create a new Vijayanagara district by carving out six taluks from Ballari, senior Congress leader G Parameshwara on Monday requested Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to consider creation of another new district by bifurcating Tumakuru.
In a letter to the Chief Minister, Parameshwara proposed announcement of Madhugiri district consisting of Pavagada, Madhugiri, Koratagere and Sira taluks.
Stating that geographically Madhugiri taluk is large and has sub-divisions of various government departments along with additional district court, he said, "Madhugiri can be converted into a district, and it has been a long standing demand of the people of the region to announce it as a district."
The request for creation of separate Madhugiri district has come amid voices both in favour and against the government's proposal for bifurcation of Ballari district.
Much to the concern of the Yediyurappa government, several BJP leaders like Minister B Sriramulu, MLAs Somashekar Reddy and Karunakara Reddy were against the division of Ballari.
Realising the intensity of the issue, Yediyurappa on Saturday had said he would convene a meeting of MLAs from Ballari to discuss on the issue.
Voicing opposition to the move, Somashekar Reddy said, "Ballari has to remain united - it is our demand...for someone's selfish motive it should not be divided. The Chief Minister has said he has convened a meeting and asked me to attend. We will go and discuss."
"Any approval for a separate Vijayanagara district will ignite a fire. We will not allow it to happen," he said.
The Chief Minister had earlier this month asked the chief secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar to place the proposal on the creation of the district before the next cabinet meeting.
BJP leaders are particularly upset with Chief Minister over his swift action towards creating new district, immediately after receiving proposal from a delegation led by former Congress MLA from Vijayanagara constituency Anand Singh without even consulting them.
Anand Singh, who is one of the 17 disqualified MLAs whose rebellion led to the fall of the previous H D Kumaraswamy-led government, had cited the demand for a separate Vijayanagara district as one of the reasons for his resignation from Congress.
Resignation and absence of Singh and 16 other Congress-JD(S) legislators, from the trust vote led to the collapse of H D Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JD(S) coalition government and helped BJP come to power.
Meanwhile, CLP leader Siddaramaiah has also expressed reservation against the move to create Ballari district, and termed it as an attempt by BJP government to help Singh, who is likely to contest December 5 bypolls on a saffron ticket.
Pointing out that Balagavi with 18 assembly constituency has not been divided, while Ballari with nine was being divided, he said, "When you have not divided a bigger district, why this?" There has also been a demand for long from some quarters to carve Chikkodi out as a separate district from Belagavi, which is the state's largest district in terms of area.
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