Will name of Ramanagara be changed to Bengaluru South?

Amid the growing demand to rename Ramanagara district in Karnataka to Bengaluru South, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said a proposal for the same will be placed in the cabinet.

"Under the leadership of Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Ramanagara district leaders met me and asked me to rename Ramanagara to Bengaluru South. I told them that this has to be decided by the cabinet and a proposal will be placed in the cabinet for it," the CM said.

The demand to rename Ramanagara came to the fore again when a delegation led by Shivakumar on Tuesday submitted the memorandum regarding this to Siddaramaiah.

The delegation consisting of district in-charge minister Ramalinga Reddy, former Bangalore Rural MP D.K. Suresh, several Congress legislators and former legislators from the district met the CM.

"There is a feeling among people of Ramanagara, Magadi, Kanakapura, Channapatna and Harohalli taluks that Bengaluru's international reputation, sovereignty and prestige should be available to their taluks too and it also our thinking," Shivakumar and other members of the delegation, who are signatories to the memorandum, said.

"So the current Ramanagara district consisting of these taluks should be renamed, and Ramanagara taluk should be declared its headquarters," they said.

Shivakumar, who had pitched a plan to rename the district last year as well, said, "We are all from Bengaluru district—Bengaluru city, Doddaballapura, Devanahalli, Hoskote, Ramanagara, Channapatna, Kanakapura, Magadi—technically and keeping administration in mind, earlier changes and reconstituting were made as Bengaluru Rural district and Bengaluru Urban district, and later a part of it was made Ramanagara district."

"The whole world is looking at Bengaluru," he said, adding, "We wanted to retain our district's original name, so leaders from the district held discussions and gave a representation to the chief minister under my leadership to rename it as Bengaluru South district. It will help Ramanagara, Channapatna, Kanakapura, Magadi in terms of development, industries, property value."

Noting that earlier Doddaballapura, Nelamangala, Yelahanka, Devanahalli, Anekal, Bengaluru South, Bengaluru East, Hoskote, Ramanagara, Magadi, Kanakapura and Channapatna taluks were part of Bengaluru district, the memorandum said, in 1986 a new Bengaluru Rural district was announced consisting of Doddaballapura, Nelamangala Devanahalli, Hoskote, Channapatana, Ramanagara, Magadi and Kanakapura.

In 2007, keeping Doddaballapura as the centre, Bengaluru Rural district was reconstituted consisting of Hosakote, Nelamangala, Devanahalli; and a separate Ramanagara district was formed consisting of Magadi, Kanakapura, Channapatna and Ramanagara, with Ramanagara as the headquarters.