“The Cabinet has decided to rechristen the Mumbai-Karnataka region, consisting of Uttara Kannada, Belagavi, Dharwad, Vijayapura, Bagalkote, Gadag and Haveri districts, as Kittur Karnataka,” said Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Maduswamy after the Cabinet meeting in Bengaluru.

“There is no point in retaining the old name when border disputes often emerge. We had recently renamed the Hyderabad-Karnataka region as Kalyana Karnataka. We have now decided to rename the Mumbai-Karnataka region as Kittur Karnataka,” Bommai had said on the 66th Karnataka Rajyotsava Day on November 1. Pro-Kannada organisations in the state had raised the demand to rename the region that had been under the erstwhile Bombay presidency before Independence.

“Border disputes started after the unification of Karnataka. Although those disputes have now been settled, quarrels break out from time to time… What is the point in calling north Karnataka region as Mumbai-Karnataka anymore?” he had said, adding, “We are committed to preparing an action plan for the development of the Kittur Karnataka region.”

The name Kittur comes after a historical taluk in Belagavi district in north Karnataka that was ruled by Rani Chennamma (1778-1829). Kittur Rani Chennamma had fought against the British for freedom about 40 years before Jhansi Rani Laxmibai.

In 2019, the previous B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government had renamed the Hyderabad-Karnataka region as Kalyana Karnataka.