BENGALURU: For the last month, the demand for at least nine new districts has been cropping up, many where bypolls will be conducted. Every elected representative wants his or her constituency to be the headquarters of the district.
On Monday, disqualified JDS MLA AH Vishwanath demanded that Hunsur be made a separate district, comprising Krishnarajanagar, Saligrama, Periyapatna and HD Kote. JDS leader Ramesh Babu wants Tiptur taluk in Tumakuru to be a district. “For better administration, smaller districts should be formed,’’ he had tweeted. Recently, former Deputy CM G Parameshwara had requested Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to declare Madhugiri a new district, comprising Madhugiri, Koratagere, Pavagada and Sira.
This apart, leaders from Jamkhandi taluk in Bagalkot district demanded that Jamkhandi be declared a separate district. Then, Congress MLA from Indi taluk, Yeshwantarayagouda Patil, demanded that Indi be made a separate district from Vijayapura. There is also a demand for Chikkodi taluk to be made a separate district from Belagavi. Belagavi, one of the biggest districts with numerous taluks, will see bypolls being held in all taluks.
Political analyst Professor Sandeep Shastri said that the demand for new districts is to carve out a political space, rather than an administration space. He said that netas and their followers feel their constituencies are not getting due importance, and if a new district is carved out, things will change. Also, if a new district is formed, they can claim merit for this, which will eventually help them during elections. “During election time, especially when the government’s stability depends on bypolls, there will be such demands. As the date for bypolls approaches, there will a few more such demands from other parts of the state,” said Shastri.
Harish Ramaswamy, a political science professor, told The New Indian Express that districts gets more revenue flow from the government than taluks do. “When districts are formed, the value of land is higher, they attract more investors, and also get benefits from the state and Union governments. Political leaders draw mileage from this, and turn the district into a vote bank. Though this helps in administration, netas focus more on voters,” he said.
Erstwhile Mysore state had 19 districts in 1956, and later, seven more were carved out. In 1986, one new district was added. In 2007, 11 districts were added, and in 2009, one more was added. With this, the state had 30 districts in all.
Last month, Yediyurappa recommended that Vijayanagara district be carved out of Ballari district. Vijayanagara Assembly constituency in Ballari was represented by Anand Singh, who resigned a few months ago, but this proposal was dropped.
Siddu against carving Hunsur district out of Mysuru
Former CM Siddaramaiah has strongly opposed disqualified MLA AH Vishwanath’s demand for carving a separate Hunsur district out of Mysuru. He said there was no need to create a new district. “How can the government create new districts every 30km? I am persoanlly against it” he said. Speaking to the media on Monday, he said there were six taluks in Mysuru district, and that it was an unscientific demand to have one district with three taluks.
