Bifurcation row: Yediyurappa to convene meeting of Ballari MLAS

Tumakuru: As the bifurcation of Ballari district became a bone of contention, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said on Saturday he will convene a meeting with the MLAs from the district.

“I will call a meeting. We will sit together and decide,” Yediyurappa told reporters at Bengaluru before leaving for Tumakuru.

His reaction came after Ballari city BJP MLA G Somashekar Reddy threatened to resign from the State Assembly if the government goes ahead with its decision.

Reddy and Monakalmuru BJP MLA B Sriramulu expressed their dissatisfaction over the formation of Vijayanagara district.

Somashekara Reddy is the brother of mining baron and former Minister G Janardhan Reddy, who once had “complete hold” on the mine-rich Ballari district’s politics, while Sriramulu is his close confidant.

The BJP government agreed to disqualified MLA Anand Singhs demand for carving separate district of Vijayanagara by bifurcating Ballari district for the overall development of areas under Hospet Taluk.

Elected on Congress ticket from Hospet, Singh was among those who resigned from the Karnataka Assembly and brought down the coalition government.

The basis for his decision to quit the Congress as well as Karnataka Assembly was the sale of 3,667 acres in Ballari to JSW Steel at a throwaway price and the denial to form Vijayanagara district.

“If he (Singh) resigned from the assembly for the formation of Vijayanagara as the district, what will happen if we too resign against the bifurcation? Hence, the chief minister should also take this point into consideration,” Reddy told reporters at Ballari.

Just because Singh has given a letter, the chief minister should not quickly announce it in the cabinet, Reddy said, adding that “it will cause problems.”

The chief minister should speak to all the MLAs of Ballari before taking any decision, he said.

“Gopalakrishna, Karunakara Reddy, Somalingappa and myself are there. The chief minister should talk to all of us.

We four are against it and there is Anand Singh alone favoring it. We are deeply hurt,” Reddy said.

Sriramulu, who too hails from Ballari, disagreed with the birfurcation.

“If you want to know my opinion, I am for a unified Ballari from the beginning,” Sriramulu said.

He questioned the need for bifurcation when Gadag, Koppal and Yadgir districts could not develop the way it was anticipated when they were carved out of their respective districts.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on September 19 had asked Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar to place the proposal on creation of the district before the next cabinet meeting.

Once approved, Vijayanagara will become the state’s 31st district.