Belgaum readying to become seat of power

Belgaum, Karnataka, Sep 20 (UNI) This border city, the bone of contention between Karnataka and Maharashtra, is gearing up to live up to the honour bestowed on it by the Karnataka Government -- hosting a special session of the State Legislature for five days from September 25 for the first time outside Bangalore.

A dream come true for the peole of this city during the 'Suvarna Karnataka year', the session, marking the fulfillment of their long-pending demand, had been possible by the political will shown by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

With merely six days left for the historic session, preparations were on in full swing, defying the hurdles put up by Rain God. The whole city was getting a facelift with almost all roads leading to the venue of the session being asphalted. Arrangements were being made for the accommodation of all those participating in the special session, besides about 400 employees of the State Legislature.

The idea of holding a special session of the State Legislature in Belgaum was mooted long back and the demand was revived regularly by Kannada acitivists. It was the then Chief Minister late R Gundu Rao who took up the matter in a Cabinet meeting. However, it was decided to hold only Cabinet meetings outside Bangalore, instead of holding legislature session and a Cabinet meeting was held in Belgaum.

The successive Governments only assured of holding session, but nothing materialised. When the matter came up before former Chief Minister N Dharam Singh, he included Gulbarga as another venue to host the session and deputed a team of officials to study the feasibility.

More UNI MNP GD YA DB1040