BELGAUM: The saffron flag, hoisted atop the Belgaum City Corporation building since 1958, has once again hogged the headlines with Kannada organisations crying for its removal and the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) and Shiv Sena demanding it stays.
The MESand Shiv Sena have warned Karnataka that Kannadigas living in Maharashtra would face dire consequences if the flag was removed. The Shiv Sena has even threatened to walk out of alliance with the BJP in Maharashtra over this issue. This has put Yeddyurappa in a spot as the BJP cannot afford to jeopardise the alliance in Maharashtra. The MESand Shiv Sena have always taken an aggressive stand on the Bhagava (saffron-coloured) flag issue. The government is having to deal with pro-Maharashtra people in Belgaum, on the one hand and the Kannada outfits, on the other. The Bhagava flag issue has been figuring in the Assembly since the Devaraj Urs regime. Urs had said that he would take an appropriate steps to remove the flag. The issue again figured in the Assembly in 1990 with Vatal Nagaraj, an Independent MLA, asking the Government why it had not removed the flag. Interestingly, Yeddyurappa who was a BJP MLA then, had supported Vatal Nagraj.
The flag controversy dates back to July 3, 1958 when the Belgaum City Municipality (now Corporation) passed a resolution stating that the saffron-coloured flag should be hoisted along with the national flag atop the Municipal building. The resolution was proposed by K SDeshpande and supported by B SJavalkar and Kudachikar.
The municipality had 37 councillors and out of which six councillors belonged to a Kannada group. Though the Kannada group opposed the move, the resolution was passed by a majority of votes.
The municipality had also sanctioned Rs 51 per annum for getting new flags.
Kannada outfits including the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike had demanded that the safforn-coloured flag be removed. However, the Sangh Parivar has supported the MESsaying that Bhagava represents the Hindu identity and according to sources say that the Parivar is pressurising Yeddyurappa not to touch the issue.
Meanwhile, sources said that the government has decided to shift the corporation building to a new building constructed near the Superintendent of Police office. Sources also said that the government would not hoist the flag in the new building.