New Delhi: Even as the BJP and the JDS target each other for fuelling separate north Karnataka demand, the Uttara Karnataka Horata Samiti is all set to hoist the separate flag of North Karnataka in front of Suvarna Soudha in Belagavi on Tuesday.

The saffron, yellow and green flag has the map of North Karnataka with 13 districts in the centre.

It is reported that the Samiti has made hundreds of shawls in the same colours for the occasion.

Addressing mediapersons in Belagavi on Monday, Samiti president Bhimappa Gadad said that they have kept the flag ready and it will be unfurled if they do not get a written assurance from the government on setting right the regional imbalance. Gadad asserted that the movement’s immediate priority is not to seek a separate state, but the redressal of regional imbalance.

There is this perceived grievance regarding over representation of leaders from the southern districts in the state Cabinet of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government.

“The JDS is a south Karnataka party. If the state is united it can never come to power on its own. Because of that Kumaraswamy made a statement that north Karnataka people should have voted for the JDS if they wanted more development. It has naturally angered the north Karnataka people and some are demanding a separate state,” said BS Yeddyurappa in a statement.

Yeddyurappa also said that he would be travelling to Belagavi on Tuesday to request the religious leaders and local organisations to drop the demand for a separate state.

Some BJP leaders from north Karnataka who had openly backed the demand have now done a U-turn claiming that they are for a united Karnataka and they are not backing the people who want a separate state.

The former chief minister Siddaramaiah has held the BJP responsible for the demand terming it as the most foolish thing.

Speaking to News18 he said: “Government has not ignored north Karnataka. We have done our best to develop the regions in the north. Some vested interests are behind the demand. The BJP is using it for the political gains”.

Hitting back at Yeddyurappa, the chief minister HD Kumaraswamy has said that he was not the chief minister for just four districts in south Karnataka. “The BJP is desperate for power. It is trying to divide the state for votes. It will backfire if they go ahead with it. After realising that there is no ground support for such a demand, the BJP is now blaming the JDS and the Congress. But the people are intelligent and the BJP has been exposed,” he said.