Meeting on bifurcation of Ballari district inconclusive, decision after byelections

Team Udayavani, Oct 3, 2019, 10:26 AM IST

Bengaluru: A consensus eluded a meeting of legislators and MPs from Ballari convened by Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday to discuss the plan to bifurcate the mine-rich district for creating new Vijayanagara district, which has run into opposition.

Those in favour of the move and those opposing it stuck to their stands as the meeting remained inconclusive and the deliberations were deferred till the completion of the December 5 byelections to 15 assembly constituencies.

At the meeting opinion of legislators and parliamentarians from Ballari district was collected on the issue, some said new district will lead to development, while others felt that the district should remain united, Revenue Minister R Ashoka told reporters here.

As the bypolls were scheduled on December 5, it has been decided to discuss the issue after that, he said.

After the Yediyurappa government recently proposed the bifurcation of the district, several BJP leaders from Ballary including Minister B Sriramulu, MLAs Somashekar Reddy and Karunakara Reddy have come out against the division of Ballari.

Chief Minister has gathered all opinion after that he decided to defer the meeting, Sriramulu told reporters.

Somashekar Reddy said: “We have clearly said if they want, they can rename Ballari district as Vijayanagara district and even shift some offices from headquarters. Let’s all stay together as brothers.”

While Somashekar and Karunakara are brothers of mining baron and former minister G Janardhan Reddy, who once had “complete hold” on the mine rich Ballari district’s politics, Sriramulu is his close confidant.

BJP leaders are upset the Chief Minister acted swiftly and made the move to bifurcate Ballari after receiving a proposal from a delegation led by disqualified Congress MLA from Vijayanagara Anand Singh without consulting them.

Singh said the issue had been postponed as the government wanted to take the decision after byelection.

Our fight will continue until our demands are fulfilled, he said, adding there would always be voices both in favour and against such decisions, but government after considering all facts would take a decision.

Singh, one of the 17 disqualified MLAs whose rebellion led to the fall of the previous H D Kumaraswamy government, had cited the demand for a separate Vijayanagara district as one of the reasons for his resignation from Congress.

BJP sources said the creation of the new district may politically benefit Singh, likely to be fielded as the saffron party’s candidate from Vijayanagar assembly segment in the December 5 by-polls.

Ballari comprises nine assembly segments,of which Congress had won five and the BJP four in the 2018 assembly polls.

Congress Rajya Sabha member Syed Naseer Hussain, who was also present at the meeting, said there was no need to divide the district and it was the opinion of most of the elected representatives.

Congress at the meeting even questioned the presence of Anand Singh since he had been disqualified as MLA.