The Siddaramaiah-led Cabinet in Karnataka on Friday, July 26, approved the renaming of Ramanagara to 'Bengaluru South'. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had placed a proposal in the cabinet to rename Ramanagara as Bengaluru South. Speaking earlier on the name-change of Ramanagara, Siddaramaiah had said that the district leaders had requested him to rename the district.
“Ramanagara district leaders came and met me in the leadership of DK Shivakumar, they asked for renaming the district as Bengaluru South. I told them that it has to be decided by the cabinet,” Siddaramaiah said.
When he was asked if the Bharatiya Janata Party renames the district again if they come to power in the next Assembly election, Siddaramaiah exuded confidence that the saffron party won't.
Siddaramaiah said, “They [BJP] will not come to power again to rename or remove the name if we change it. People have chosen us; they can't say that they will come to power. Did HD Kumaraswamy or the BJP get the blessings of the people?”
Earlier on July 9, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the proposal to rename Ramanagara district as Bengaluru South had come from a delegation of district leaders.
“Keeping in mind the future and development of Ramanagara, Channapatna, Magadi, Kanakapura, Harohalli taluks, a delegation of district leaders led by them has proposed to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to rename Ramanagara district as Bengaluru South District,” Shivakumar said.
The delegation comprising district in-charge ministers, MLAs and leaders met the chief minister at Vidhana Soudha and presented the district renaming proposal to the chief minister.
Shivakumar said, “We all originally belong to Bengaluru district, including Bangalore city, Doddaballapur, Devanahalli, Hoskote, Kanakapura, Ramanagara, Channapatna, Magadi. Administratively, it was previously divided into Bangalore city, Bangalore rural and Ramanagara district.”
The deputy chief minister said it was necessary to rename the district while keeping Ramanagara as a central administration and added that Bengaluru has global recognition and under my leadership, the leaders of the district submitted a proposal to the Chief Minister to save the name of this district.
(With agency inputs)
