BENGALURU: Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara on Wednesday defended his push for declaring Tumakuru as Bengaluru North, saying it would bring more foreign direct investments to the region.
But it has to be seen whether the Karnataka cabinet meeting on Thursday takes up the proposal.
With Bengaluru Rural already being named Bengaluru North, Parameshwara may have to settle for Tumakuru to be part of Greater Bengaluru. Bengaluru North covers Ramanagara district, from where Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC president DK Shivakumar hails.
Parameshwara said, “When I had mentioned it earlier too, critics had made it an issue. But this will not affect Tumakuru’s status.”
He gave the example of Noida being a critical part of the National Capital Region in Delhi. Earlier, he had pushed for extending the Bengaluru Metrol line till Tumakuru under the public-private partnership model, for which a detailed project report is being prepared.
Bengaluru South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya had opposed the move, claiming the Metro is for intracity connectivity and not intercity.
Posting on social media platform X, Bengaluru Central MP from BJP, PC Mohan, mocked Parameshwara, “Home Minister has proposed renaming Tumakuru, nearly 70 km from Bengaluru as Bengaluru North. At this rate, Mangaluru may become Bengaluru Beachfront, Kalaburagi Bengaluru Far East, Kodagu Bengaluru Hill Station and the entire state Greater Bengaluru Area.”
“Shivakumar and Parameshwara are trying to shed the rural tag to their respective regions, because they have political and business interests as well,” observed a Congress leader, pointing out that they run a large number of educational institutions.
The concept may boost medical tourism by attracting patients from abroad. The realty sector is also likely to boom, said a realtor.