Siddaramaiah slams Katti over separate North Karnataka state demand

BENGALURU: A day after Food and Civil Supplies Minister Umesh Katti once again raised the issue of separate statehood for North Karnataka, former chief minister and Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday criticised the former saying “to even think of dividing the state was equivalent to betraying mother, motherland and mother tongue.”

Katti, a vocal proponent of separate statehood for North Karnataka, on Wednesday said that Karnataka will be divided into two after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He went on to add that 50 new states will take shape in the country.

Katti, who hails from the border district of Belagavi, had even claimed that Maharashtra will be split into three states and Uttar Pradesh into four. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself will take an initiative on this issue,” he had said.

“Many Kannadigas had sacrificed everything to realise a unified Karnataka. To even think of dividing our state is equivalent to betraying mother, motherland and mother tongue. Minister Umesh Katti has revealed that the discussions are being held at Prime Minister @narendramodi’s level to divide Karnataka. This is a very dangerous development,” Siddaramaiah tweeted.

Siddaramaiah also sought a clarification from Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on the issue. “@PMOIndia @CMofKarnataka  @BSBommai should issue clarification about this. This is not the first time Minister Umesh Katti has made such statements,” the former CM said.

The Badami MLA further held the BJP responsible “for the outcome of inflammatory statements made by Katti from the border areas of Belagavi”.Justifying his statement, Katti had said Bengaluru was already congested with no proper water supply and traffic was a big problem in the IT city. “It takes at least one hour to travel 10-km distance there. It takes one and half hours for me to reach Vidhana Soudha from my house located in Bengaluru city. I can reach Vidhana soudha earlier by walking instead of travelling in a vehicle,’’ he had claimed.

Katti had said it was impossible for new IT/BT companies to establish their base in Bengaluru henceforth. “A large number of youth from North Karnataka worked in these companies in Bengaluru. It is high time for IT companies to think beyond Bengaluru and set up their units in North Karnataka, which has a huge potential,” he had elaborated.

CM distances himself from Katti’s statement
bengaluru: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday disowned the statement of his cabinet colleague Umesh Katti, who stoked a controversy by claiming that 50 new states, including North Karnataka, will come up after 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “There is no thinking or proposal at the government level at all on a separate state of North Karnataka,” Bommai told reporters in New Delhi.   “This is not the first time Umesh Katti has spoken about it. He has been saying it for many years. He should himself reply to this question”, he shot back to a query posed by  reporters.