India may have have 50 states after the 2024 General Elections, a Karnataka State Minister from the federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has claimed.
The country presently has 28 states and 8 federally administered union territories.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to form 50 States in the country after the 2024 elections. I came to know that he is mulling over it," Umesh Katti, the Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs and Forests of Karnataka, said.
"It is for sure that North Karnataka will also become a separate state on the basis of the population spread across Karnataka…Maharashtra will become three, Karnataka two, and Uttar Pradesh will become four states," Katti said at a Belagavi Bar Association event held on Wednesday.
A video of his speech has now gone viral.
According to Katti, the present Karnataka capital Bengaluru is too overcrowded, and tech companies are looking beyond Bengaluru.
Most of the tech companies are based in Bengaluru, also called as the silicon valley of India. The popularity of Bengaluru can be guessed by the fact that Tesla, which had not yet started its operation in India but already registered itself in Bengaluru.
North Karnataka has huge potential, Katti said, urging people to join hands to demand a north Karnataka state.
This is not the first time when demand for separate statehood for North Karnataka was raised, many politicians from the region have been demanding a state to get better amenities and development for the region.
Currently, most projects related to development and infrastructure are focused in the southern part of Karnataka, where Bengaluru exists. The capital city contributes over half of the state's gross domestic product.
Survey data reportedly shows that the economic growth within Karnataka has been inequitable. Bengaluru, and the southern districts retain their advantage of contributing more than double compared to their northern districts.
"Kalaburagi region's (Northern Karnataka) per capita income is less than half of the per capita income of the Bengaluru region," the economic survey states.
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