North–South Divide Resurfaces As Congress MLA Raju Kage Demands Separate Statehood For North Karnataka

Bengaluru: The North-South division within Karnataka has come into the fore with Congress MLA from Kagwad Raju Kage demanding a separate North Karnataka State, which he claims has been neglected for long.

This is not the first time the MLA has raked up the issue, which is slowly turning out to be a controversy. Earlier, he had written letters to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President Droupadi Murmu, seeking a separate North Karnataka Statehood.

During the ongoing winter legislature session, Raju Kage raked up the house in the Assembly itself and declared that he would continue to press for a separate statehood, alleging long standing discrimination and neglect by the successive governments.``Some media houses and pro-Kannada organisations have criticised me for my demands. But, others have supported me. Those who want to criticise, let them continue doing so. I will remain firm and continue to raise the issue,'' Kage said.

Although the state government had announced five taluks, including Kagwad, the administrative offices still run from rented buildings. The government had announced ₹ eight crore each for building taluk offices, but no progress has been witnessed. Now, Kadur taluk has been sanctioned with an additional ₹ eight crore for the same project. ``However, when we sought to increase our allocation by just 20%, the government refused to do so,'' Kage fumed.

Kage said that even the basic developmental activities are not taken up in the North Karnataka region and the government keeps talking about major infrastructure projects. Everything remains on the papers and funds are never released  for the promised projects. Unless there was a separate statehood for North Karnataka, the development of that region would be just a dream.