Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday, August 27, said there is no question of ceding even an inch of land to another state for any reason. He was reacting to his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao's claim that people of Raichur district in Karnataka wished to be merged with Telangana due to the schemes launched by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government. Terming KCR’s claim as "politically motivated" and aimed at diverting the attention of people from core issues in Telangana, Bommai advised KCR to focus on improving Telangana.
"It is ridiculous. Raichur has a thermal plant, airport, and other developmental works are happening, lot of progress is taking place, and I have given enough funds this year under the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB) and lots of grants are on the way," Bommai said. Speaking to reporters in Raichur, he said, "There was strife and Telangana ended up as a separate state which was backward, it is still so. Let KCR focus on improving things there. We are committed to all-round development of Raichur and there is no question of ceding even an inch of land to another State for any reason."
At a TRS party event on August 17, KCR lauded the schemes launched by his government saying no other government in the country has them. He reportedly said the people in Raichur have been demanding that the district be merged with Telangana in view of the welfare schemes and development taking place in the neighbouring state.
Following KCR’s remark, the Congress in Karnataka had launched an attack on the BJP government in the state for not condemning it. Congress MLA and former minister Priyank Kharge had tweeted, “If it was #Belagavi border issue, entire Cabinet would have come out in defence, why not for us? Does BJP government consider us a part of Karnataka or not?”