A meeting called by Uttar Karnataka Horata Samiti to discuss the demand for statehood for North Karnataka region faced a protest from Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (Narayanagouda faction) here on Sunday.
The meeting was held at Shivanubhava Mantap in the city to discuss the modalities for continuing the demand for statehood and preparing a five-point plan for taking the agitation further.
While members of the samiti held discussions inside the hall, members of the vedike staged the protest outside the hall where they chanted slogans against the samiti.
The vedike, which is against the division of the State, said that it will not allow the State to be bifurcated as many people in the past have fought for its unification.
The vedike members later tried to barge into the hall as part of their protest, but they were prevented by the police who took them into custody. Later, the protesters were released.
Resolutions
Meanwhile, the members of samiti passed five resolutions on how their agitation will be continued.
The first resolution is to obtain statehood for North Karnataka having 13 districts in the region; the second, the new State to be called Uttar Karnataka; making Bagalkot the new capital of the new State as the district headquarters is geographically accessible to all the 13 districts; the fourth resolution is to have January 1 as the date for hoisting the flag for the new State and the fifth, the flag to have three colours — saffron, yellow and green.
A decision was also taken to garner public opinion on the issue by collecting people’s signatures. And, it was also resolved to take up the agitation on the Telangana model.
Reacting to the opposition by the vedike, samiti’s State president Bhimappa Gadad said that 80 % of the people supported the demand for statehood.
Replying to the decision of the government to shift 13 offices to the Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi, he said that the mere shifting of some offices would not help the development of the region as statehood was the only solution to address its backwardness.
Besides Mr. Gadad, seers Prabhuswamy of Charantimutt and Shivakumarswamy of Viraktamutt and other functionaries of the samiti were present.