“I am extremely pained by the government’s decision to bifurcate Ballari district to form the new Vijayanagara district. The pain of district’s division will haunt me forever,” G. Somashekhar Reddy, the MLA for Ballari city, who had been opposing the government’s move to bifurcate the district, said in Ballari on Saturday.
Speaking to presspersons after flagging off the special campaign for blindness eradication, Mr. Reddy also expressed his helplessness to prevent the district’s division.
“After the Cabinet resolved to bifurcate Ballari to form Vijayanagara district, I met Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and once again appealed to him to drop the idea. The CM and other senior Ministers said that the bifurcation would be done one day, if not during this government, it would be during any of the next governments. They also appealed to me to stop opposing and resisting the Cabinet decision,” he said.
When asked whether he had changed his mind after meeting the Chief Minister, Mr. Reddy responded negatively.
“I continue to hold that Ballari district should remain undivided. If all the legislators from the district are ready to oppose the bifurcation, I will once again take their delegation to Chief Minister and try to convince him,” he said.
Ballari bandh
To a question on whether he would participate in the Ballari bandh agitation scheduled for next Thursday to oppose the bifurcation of Ballari, Mr. Reddy said that he would not directly participate in the demonstrations, but wished for its success.
