Belgaum will be second capital of Karnataka

The border town of Belgaum will be developed as the second capital of Karnataka.

The Karnataka Government’s announcement on granting the status of a second capital to Belgaum came during the special session of the State Legislature, which is presently underway at Belgaum.

By granting Belgaum the status of its second capital after Bangalore, Karnataka Government is seeking to send a strong message to neighbouring Maharashtra, which has staked a claim over the border district in view of the large presence of Marathi-speaking population.

The second capital tag for Belgaum will be akin to the one Maharashtra had given to Nagpur.

The Government will also build a replica of the Vidhana Soudha or the State Secretariat at Belgaum soon. “We have already identified land and figured out how much money is needed for the construction of a Vidhana Soudha in Belgaum”, Karnataka’s Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj Horatti told the Legislative Council meeting in Belgaum.

The Government will also hold legislature sessions at the Vidhana Soudha in Belgaum ever year.

Karnataka’s Minister for Higher Education D H Shankarmurthy said there has been a long-pending demand for setting up a state secretariat for a second capital in Belgaum like the one in Nagpur and Jammu. “The Karnataka Government has decided to accept this and build a Vidhana Soudha as a step towards correcting the regional imbalance”, Shankarmurthy said.

Earlier, both the houses of state legislature adopted a resolution endorsing the Mahajan Commission report, which has declared that Belgaum is a part of Karnataka.

However, it was the Opposition Congress that stole the thunder from the JD (S)-BJP combine when it forced the Government to give its nod to a resolution that virtually told Maharashtra to re-read the Mahajan report and quietly mind its business.

Brushing aside the objections of Speaker Krishna and protests from the treasury benches, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Dharam Singh moved the resolution on Mahajan Commission report that was not listed in the business of the House. The resolution also decided to mount pressure on the Federal Government to stick to the report.

Later, the Government agreed to Congress’ proposal to pass the resolution. Incidentally, Karnataka has adopted such a resolution on Mahajan Commission report on four occasions earlier.