Now, a demand to bifurcate Mysuru district crops up

A demand for creation of another new district in Karnataka by bifurcating Mysuru was made by former JD(S) legislator A H Vishwananth on Monday.

He met Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa at his residence with a proposal to create a new district named after former chief minister Devraj Urs by carving out six taluks from Mysuru district.

Similar appeals have been made for Vijayanagara, Jamkhandi, Chikkodi and Madhugiri districts.

"There is a proposal that has been made now to make Hunsur a district and name it after Urs. It will have six taluks - Hunsur, K R Nagara, Piriyapatna, HD Kote, Sargur and Saligrama," Vishwanath, who represented Hunsur assembly constituency until he was disqualified, said.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the Chief Minister, he said, There is a demand for a new district. Shortly, a meeting of public representatives from all the six taluks, leaders, organisations and people concerned will be called and a committee will be formed to formulate a strategy for a struggle in this regard," he added.

Vishwanaths move is being seen as politically motivated, with Hunsur along with 14 other constituencies represented by Congress-JD(S) disqualified MLAs going to by-polls on December 5.

The resignation and absence of Vishwananth and 16 other Congress-JD(S) legislators from the trust vote led to the collapse of the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition government and helped BJP come to power.

Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who hails from Mysuru said it was not feasible to bifurcate the district and there was no need for it.

"It is not a right move, it is not needed, it is also not scientifically right. In my opinion there is no need to bifurcate Mysuru. I don't know why such a demand is being made, I have not seen Vishwanaths statement also. Maybe, some people are talking about it because of elections, I dont know," he added.

JD(S) MLA Sa Ra Mahesh too said Vishwanath was trying to do this for political gains ahead of bypoll.

It is an election gimmick. Recently, a similar proposal to bifurcate Ballari district to carve a new Vijayanagara district had caused a rift within the BJP, with several leaders within the party opposing the move," Mahesh said.

A meeting of legislators and parliamentarians from Ballari convened by Yediyurappa to discuss about the plan to bifurcate the district had remained inconclusive, with sides both for and against the move sticking to their stand.

There has also been a long-pending demand from some quarters to carve out Chikkodi as a separate district from Belagavi, which is the state's largest district in terms of area.

There has been growing demand for creation of new districts, with senior Congress leader G Parameshwara on Monday writing to Chief Minister Yediyurappa to consider creation of Madhugiri district by bifurcating Tumakuru.

Demand for the creation of a new Jamkhandi district from Bagalkot has also gained momentum.