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Ramanagara district was called Bangalore Rural district before Kumaraswamy got the name changed to Ramanagara district when he was chief minister in 2006-08.
By renaming Ramanagara, Shivakumar has politically upstaged his archrival HD Kumaraswamy, union minister and Janata Dal Secular president. (Image: PTI)
Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has quietly struck gold with the state cabinet decision to change the name of Ramanagara district to Bengaluru South district. By getting clearance for what he has been pushing for several years, he has kept his word to the people of Bengaluru’s neighbouring district that they would hit gold once the shadow of Brand Bengaluru falls on it with the name change.
And by doing so, he has politically upstaged his archrival HD Kumaraswamy, union minister and Janata Dal Secular president. Ramanagara district was called Bangalore Rural district before Kumaraswamy got the name changed to Ramanagara district when he was chief minister in 2006-08.
“Don’t sell your land in Ramanagara — it will turn to gold,” Shivakumar had advised the locals in Ramanagara earlier this year. The statement now reads like a prelude to the cabinet’s approval, which has formally cleared the renaming of the district to Bengaluru South District and merging it like it was before.
After the cabinet meeting cleared the proposal to rename Ramanagara, Shivakumar said, “I am happy to say that the entire cabinet discussed the issue. Ramanagara district was earlier part of Bengaluru district. The headquarters will remain in Ramanagara, but the name will be changed to ‘Bengaluru South District’ for all administrative purposes. Just because it’s 30 km, 80 km, or 100 km away, it will still be called Bengaluru South.”
The Political Battle
What began as a dispute over a name has now turned into a full-blown battle for land, legacy, and political dominance in the Vokkaliga heartland —just 50 km from Karnataka’s capital.
While Kumaraswamy accuses the Congress of “vendetta politics,” Shivakumar frames the move as development-focused governance.
The JD(S) accused Shivakumar of redrawing administrative boundaries purely for political and monetary gain. Clearly, the party sees the move as a direct challenge to its presence and Kumaraswamy’s influence in the Vokkaliga heartland.
JD(S)’s Kumaraswamy and Congress’s Shivakumar, both Vokkaligas, have long been in a tussle to tilt Vokkaliga vote bank in their favour — a tussle that existed even when JD(S) was a coalition partner with the Congress, and one that intensified when JD(S) aligned with the NDA in the 2023 Assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
As per the last census, Vokkaligas are the second largest community in Karnataka after the Lingayats and form close to 14-15 per cent of the voting population. Kumaraswamy and Shivakumar are both influential Vokkaliga leaders.
“We are from Bengaluru — why should we give up our identity? You cannot imagine what your land will be worth in the future. BJP and JD(S) leaders are criticising this move. But why did they (referring to Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy) leave their hometown and buy hundreds of acres of land here,” he asked people in Ramanagara earlier this year, targeting his political arch-rival Kumaraswamy.
The Deputy Chief Minister said: “What was the price of land in this area 15 to 20 years ago? How much is it now? Although I could not give you money directly, I’ve helped you by increasing your property value. This is how I’ve brought change to your lives,” he claimed.
Kumaraswamy hit back, calling the Congress a “party of looters” and Shivakumar the “leader of the pack.” Shivakumar responded to Kumaraswamy’s statement, calling him a “frustrated” man who is unable to play the part of a “joker” in a coalition.
Shivakumar’s statement referred to how the JD(S) aligned with whichever party needed a coalition partner to form the government. The JD(S) has partnered with both the BJP and the Congress — first in 2006, when Kumaraswamy became CM under the 20-20 formula. However, towards the end of the term, Kumaraswamy refused to hand over power to his BJP successor BS Yediyurappa, leading to the fall of the coalition government.
Again, in the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections, the JD(S), which emerged as the third-largest party, entered a post-poll alliance with the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress, and Kumaraswamy was sworn in as Chief Minister on May 23, 2018. However, he lost power when the BJP launched Operation Kamala, and 19 MLAs withdrew support from his government (13 from the Congress, 3 from the JD(S), BSP MLA Mahesh N, and 2 Independent MLAs), causing the coalition government to fall once again.
“The attempt is to erase Kumaraswamy’s legacy and the development he brought to the area,” said a close associate of the Union minister on condition of anonymity. The district was originally carved out by Kumaraswamy’s coalition government in 2007.
The Renaming Legality
The renaming proposal was also pushed ahead just before the 2024 Channapatna bypolls—a politically strategic move. Though the Centre rejected the renaming proposal, the Congress-led Karnataka government said it would go ahead with the decision, asserting that it was a “state matter.”
“Sending the proposal for the Centre’s approval was only a formality. They rejected it, but we are going ahead because the decision lies with the state government,” Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda told News18.
He added that the Allahabad High Court’s ruling on the renaming of Allahabad to Prayagraj made it clear that naming or renaming places is a state subject. “Land is a state subject under the Constitution, and the state government has the prerogative in such matters,” Byre Gowda said.
“The role of the Government of India, as I understand it, is limited to maintaining a central registry — just updating names in their records. That’s it. The substantive decision-making lies with the state. The High Court judgment makes it clear,” the Revenue Minister said.
Karnataka Law Minister HK Patil explained the legal basis for the decision:
“Article 7 of the Constitution of India describes various subjects included in the Union List. The subject of land in State List item 18 and land revenue in item 45 are both State subjects. Section (4) of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, empowers the State Government to create, alter, abolish, or rename zones, taluks, and districts. Hence, this proposal was submitted,” he said.
‘Vendetta Politics’
The rejection by the Union Home Ministry triggered a fresh political tussle. Shivakumar claimed the move was blocked due to objections raised by Kumaraswamy. Kumaraswamy and the BJP, in turn, called the decision to merge Ramanagara into Bengaluru South a “design of the Congress government that indicates their hatred towards Lord Rama and a lure for real estate.”
For Shivakumar, however, the decision to rename Ramanagara as Bengaluru South district is both symbolic and strategic. By tethering Kanakapura — his home constituency — and adjoining areas more closely to Bengaluru, he is positioning himself as the key leader of a vital urban–rural corridor. This boosts his political clout and strengthens his hand in the Vokkaliga heartland.
Kumaraswamy had also recently lashed out at both Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, accusing them of misusing their power to “harass” him and threatening to expose alleged corruption. The trigger was the government’s move to clear encroachments at Kethaganahalli near Bidadi, which is linked to Kumaraswamy’s family.
“This is pure vendetta politics,” Kumaraswamy said, warning the Congress not to provoke him. “I have enough material to take on this government.”
Shivakumar dismissed the charges, daring Kumaraswamy to release whatever documents he claimed to possess. “I’m not afraid of Kumaraswamy or anyone else. Let him bring out whatever he has,” he said.
The Channapatna bypoll which was held in November 2024 further tilted the scales. Veteran politician CP Yogeshwar, who defected to the Congress from the BJP just days before the bypoll, won the seat by over 25,000 votes, defeating Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil.
The JD(S) leader had pushed for his son Nikhil to contest again, which the Congress dubbed “Putra-moh” (obsession with one’s son) as Nikhil had earlier contested two elections Mandya (2019 Lok Sabha) and Ramanagara (2023 Assembly) and lost both. He lost the third time as well after he contested from Channapatna, his father Kumaraswamy’s seat, to Yogeshwar.
Meanwhile, the BJP has also pointed a sharp attack on Shivakumar. Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka alleged that the Bidadi Township Project, located in Ramanagara, was a scam designed by Congress leaders to inflate land prices.
At a protest against land acquisition under the Greater Bengaluru Authority, which was recently formed on May 15, Ashoka claimed that 3,000 acres were being acquired to enable a “land loot” by Shivakumar. He also warned of a second NICE Road-like project that could seize up to 30,000 acres more of land from farmers in the area.
“Farmers will be ruined. Ninety-five percent of them will suffer losses. Their children will have nothing left,” he said, accusing Shivakumar of turning governance into a real estate racket.
Ashoka also questioned whether Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had been “instructed” by Rahul Gandhi to drop the name Rama from Ramanagara, as part of the merging with Bangalore, or if the move was linked to a real estate agenda in the district, following the MUDA land controversy in Mysuru.
Ashoka targeted Shivakumar, asking whether the renaming was a way to settle scores after his brother DK Suresh was defeated by the coalition in the Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituency, which includes Ramanagara district.
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