Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on July 31 blamed the media for fanning sentiments and the demand for a separate statehood for north Karnataka and even warned that media would be held responsible if anything went wrong in the statehood protests in future.CM said, “You, the media, are adding fuel to fire for no reason. People (in North Karnataka) are not demanding a separate State. People are with the government. You (media) are creating it.”
Kumaraswamy’s statement comes in the backdrop of the statement by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA B Sriramulu, threatening to not only lead the agitation but intensify it if the government continued to neglect the region.
He strongly targeted media for misquoting his statements. He said, “I was responding to (BJP leader) Sreeramulu’s statement during the Budget Session. I had asked him, from where will he get grants after carving out a separate state of North Karnataka? Is it a big issue? Is it a big crime?”
The issue has raised a storm following the Uttara Karnataka Pratyeka Rajya Horata Samiti, the announcement of a day-long bandh on August 2 in 13 districts of the region leading the demand for separate statehood.
Meanwhile, Karnataka BJP president B S Yeddyurappa has accused CM, and said, “Kumaraswamy is playing politics of divide and rule. Unfortunately, he is working only for 37 Janata Dal (Secular) (JD-S) MLA seats, not as Chief Minister of entire Karnataka. Kumaraswamy’s injustice to different parts of Karnataka and especially north Karnataka has created agitation.”
While blaming the media for flaring up the demand for statehood Kumaraswamy said, “It is a media creation. Actually, there is nothing happening of that sort. The people there are not making any such demand. They are with the government.”
