Kannada Chaluvali (Vatal Paksha) leader Vatal Nagaraj today said he would observe New Year eve as “Black Day” at Hubballi in protest against the failure of successive governments to achieve quantitative and qualitative development and progress of north Karnataka districts, including those in Hyderabad-Karnataka and Mumbai-Karnataka regions.
Mr. Nagaraj, who was taken into custody by the police for staging a protest by sleeping on a mattress along with his supporters in front of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha on Saturday, demanded that the government make best use of the winter session of the legislature to open a new chapter of development and progress of the north Karnataka region and effectively address the issues of regional imbalance.
Both the ruling Congress and Opposition parties should focus their debate on the burning issues of the region and take decisions to support development and progress expeditiously.
He said the government should advise its Ministers to sit at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha and make them easily accessible to the people of the region. At least four Ministers should sit at SVS for a few days every month, he said.
Mr. Nagraj said the State government should adopt a resolution during the winter session seeking the Prime Minister’s intervention to resolve the Mahadayi water dispute out-of-court as early as possible so that the people of four districts of north Karnataka did not suffer again due to shortage of drinking water.
