BENGALURU: Kalyana-Karnataka, long considered one of the state’s most backward regions, is about to witness a political and developmental move like never before. Just four months after the region handed a thumping victory to Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, allowing the ruling party candidates to win all the five seats, the winds of change are blowing. It is payback time, and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his team are descending on the region for a game-changing Janata Darshan on September 30 in Kalaburagi.
The ruling party has to be grateful to voters here as BJP had won all the seats in the previous Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
With the bureaucratic machinery in full throttle, all the seven additional deputy commissioners have been appointed nodal officers to tackle the region’s pressing problems. From crumbling infrastructure to health and education issues, people’s concerns are set to be addressed almost instantly at the Janata Darshan, officials said.
This is not just any grievance redressal meeting that the chief minister holds regularly. The state government is pulling out all stops to redress imbalances, identified years ago by the DM Nanjundappa Committee, which named these areas as some of the most deprived in Karnataka. Raichur and Koppal that once ranked last in human development indices are at the heart of this transformation.
Kumar Naik, a retired additional chief secretary-turned-MP for Raichur, said, “The level of backwardness was shocking then. When there were 19 districts, Raichur was the last in the list. But when the number increased to 28 with Koppal split from Raichur, the two districts stood at 27 and 28. I was hoping that they would move up the table, but they did not.”
The CM will hold a high-powered cabinet meeting in Kalaburagi on September 17. Key issues from Bidar, Kalaburagi, Koppal, Yelburga, Ballari and Vijayanagar will take centrestage as ministers huddle to chart a new course for the region.
Sources said the CM understands this region better because he served as MLA from adjoining Badami between 2018 and 2023. The stage is set, the leaders are prepared, and the region watches in anticipation as the countdown to Kalyana Karnataka’s development begins.