BENGALURU: Even as the NDA government at the Centre chants the one-nation mantra , the Congress government in Karnataka has constituted a nine-member committee to design a state flag -a symbol of identity -and submit a report on giving it legal sanctity.If a flag comes into being, Karnataka will be the second state in the country to have a flag of its own, after Jammu and Kashmir, which enjoys special status under Article 370 of the Constitution.The move comes months ahead of the assembly elections and marks a departure from Karnataka's 2012 stand when the BJP was in office.The government had told the Karnataka high court then that it had not accepted suggestions to declare the red-and-yellow flag as the of ficial state flag. It had argued that the official state flag would go against the unity and integrity of the country .When the issue was raised in the assembly , then Kannada and culture minister Govind M Karjol had said: “The Flag Code does not allow flags for states.Our national flag is the symbol of integrity and sovereignty . If states have their flags, they could diminish the importance of the national flag. Besides, this could lead to narrow-minded regional feelings.“Five years later, the Siddaramaiah government is proposing a separate flag for the state, coinciding with protests against the alleged imposition of Hindi in the state. Union minister DV Sada nanda Gowda dismis sed the move, saying, “India is one nation, and it can't have two flags.“The June 6 government order, a copy of which is with TOI, has nominated the principal secretary of the Kanna da and culture department as chairperson of the committee, which will include the secretaries of law, home, parliamentary affairs and personnel and administrative reforms departments as members. The other members are the presidents of Kannada Sahitya Parishat and Kannada Development Authority , the Hampi University vice-chancellor and the director of the Kannada and culture department.While the committee will look into the legal aspects of a state flag, experts TOI spoke to say the existing laws may permit states to have a flag of their own.One advocate said, “India has a federal structure and there haven't been many discussions on the flag. Going by the Constitution, there may not be a problem.“Former advocate general of Karnataka, Ravi Varma Kumar, said, “The Constitution provides states supremacy in their own sphere and a seven-judge Supreme Court bench has upheld this. The flag code has no restrictions on this matter.“He added, “According to the code, no flag can be hoisted higher than the national flag. If Karnataka gets its own flag, it must be hoisted at a height lower than that of the national flag so as not to dishonour it.“