Bidar: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Sunday refuted allegations that he had expressed his neglect for Hyderabad-Karnataka region by not visiting Gulbarga and Bidar districts till now.

"I have no such negative feelings for the backward region. I could not visit these districts only because I was hard pressed for time. I will be in Gulbarga for three days soon after the Legislature session is over. I will then lay the foundation stone for the Circuit Bench of the High Court," he said.

He was speaking to presspersons at a teleconference for organised for Bidar district journalists as part of the Press Day celebrations. The Chief Minister said during his visit he would inspecting the progress of various development programmes, and hear people's grievances.

To another question, he said the Government had selected Belgaum for holding a session of the legislature in North Karnataka.

A committee constituted for the purpose had found that the city had the infrastructure for holding a session.

"What is important is that the Government will be holding a session of the legislature in North Karnataka. What is not important is in which city it is being held," he said. He appealed to the media not to politicise the issue.

Special status

He said he would special efforts to convince the Centre to grant a special status to Hyderabad-Karnataka under Article 371 of the Constitution.

He appealed to Indi Lift Irrigation Project ayacutdars to stop their agitation and invited them to Bangalore for talks.

Presspersons in Bidar were disappointed as the "video conference" turned out to be only a phone-in session.

Blackout in Bellary

Our Bellary Staff Correspondent reports:

Presspersons in Bellary could not participate in the "phone-in" programme.

Their efforts to contact the Chief Minister with the help of four telephone lines provided at the Bellary Engineering College proved futile. They had to watch the Chief Minister answer questions from their colleagues in other districts.

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