Hubballi: It's Koliwad versus Udasi in Haveri. But not in the manner you may think. Congress leaders here are adamant about naming the newly built Haveri Zilla Panchayat administrative block after Speaker K B Koliwad only because the BJP had named its auditorium after their leader, C M Udasi when in power.
The present row has led angry BJP leaders to hold an agitation and a public interest litigation has been filed in the high court against naming of a government building after an elected representative. Currrently, the Congress, which controls the Zilla Panchayat, has 22 members and the BJP, 12.
"Community halls and other buildings can be named after elected representatives. But administrative offices of the Zilla Panchayat, tahasildar and deputy commissioner cannot be named after them under the law. And so we have submitted a memorandum to the officials concerned against the move to name the ZP administrative block after the Speaker. We have also threatened to name the office of the deputy commissioner after the Dalit Sangharsh Samithi if they don’t drop the move," warned ZP member and Haveri district BJP general secretary, Siddaraj Kalakoti.
Meanwhile, advocate A A Pathan, who has filed the PIL in the high court, said he had also submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner questioning the naming of the ZP auditorium after Mr Udasi. “I will file another case in court against this too depending on the response from the deputy commissioner,” he added.
