BJP MLA demands merger of Karnataka's Raichur in Telangana; KTR claims vindication

In a demand that may not go down well with the people of Karnataka, BJP MLA Shivaraj Patil demanded that Raichur should be merged in the neighbouring state of Telangana. It is pertinent to note that the Raichur district was a part of the princely state of Hyderabad until the reorganization of states in 1956. Interestingly, Patil- a legislator from the Raichur city constituency raised the aforesaid demand in the presence of Karnataka Animal Husbandry Minister Prabhu Chauhan and received applause from the crowd.

"Uttar Karnataka means Hubli Dharwad and Belgaum. Hyderabad Karnataka means Bidar and Gulbarga. So rather make Raichur district join Telangana," Patil is heard saying in a video that has gone viral.

Reportedly, he lamented that the state government was not addressing the issues of farmers in Raichur despite repeated pleas unlike the other areas of north Karnataka. Commenting on this video, TRS working president KT Rama Rao claimed that this was a validation of Telangana's model of development. Pertinently, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao has been projecting himself as a viable alternative at the national level on the basis of his governance model. 

Demands for merger into Telangana

Incidentally, this is not the first time that people from neighbouring states have demanded the inclusion of the areas that they reside in into Telangana. On May 23, 2018, 40 villages in the Dharmabad tehsil of Maharashtra's Nanded district expressed their desire to become a part of Telangana. Claiming that they have been deprived of basic amenities such as water for the last 7 decades, they submitted a proposal of their demand to TRS MLA Bajireddy Govardhan.

On September 17, 2019, leaders from Nalgaon, Bhokar, Degloor, Kinwat and Hathgaon met KCR seeking a merger of their areas in Telangana. They cried foul over the fact that the Maharashtra government had not implemented a farmers' investment support scheme like Rythu Bandhu which has been successfully implemented in Telangana. A statement from the Telangana CM's office read, “The leaders from Nanded further clarified that under the then Nizam rule they were very much part of the Hyderabad State. Since they have a long and historic relationship with people in Telangana since ages, their demand for merger with the Telangana State is rational".