Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge has said that if there was no Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre, it would have not been possible to accord special status to the Kalyana Karnataka region under Article 371(J) of the Constitution.
“The long-pending demand of the region for the amendment to Article 371(J) was fulfilled with the efforts made by Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Chief Minister the late Dharam Singh and All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjuna Kharge,“ Mr. Priyank Kharge said.
Addressing a press conference in Kalaburagi on Saturday, Mr. Kharge said that the other leaders who fought for the special status for the region were also remembered whose contributions were lauded on several occasions. “We did not say that only Congress leaders worked for getting Special status accorded to Kalyana Karnataka region under Article 371?(J) of the Constitution,” Mr. Kharge stressed. Besides Dharam Singh and Mallikarjun Kharge, many other leaders including Vaijnath Patil, Vishwanath Reddy Mudnal, Bapu Gowda Darshanapur, Hanumanth Rao Desai, and Vidhyadhar Guruji have fought for the implementation of Article 371(J), he added.
