Kannada Rajyotsava: Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy joins celebrations at Kanteerava Stadium

Kannada Rajyotsava, the annual festival to celebrate the birth of the southern state, was marked with much fanfare on Thursday. Kannada Rajyotsava is celebrated on November 1 of every year as all the Kannada language-speaking regions of South India were merged to form the Karnataka state on this day in 1956. 

The main event was organised at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru where Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy was the chief guest. Functions have been organised across the state to celebrate the day. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also greeted the people of Karnataka on the occasion. "Greetings to my sisters and brothers of Karnataka on the special occasion of Karnataka Rajyotsava. Karnataka is home to a rich history and bright people who have distinguished themselves in various fields. I pray for the happiness and wellbeing of the people of the state," he said in a tweet. 

Earlier, activists of Kalyana Karnataka, a social-cultural organisation in the state, were stopped from holding a protest demanding a separate state of North Karnataka.

" We will hoist a new Karnataka flag on Kannada Rajyotsava. We are demanding a separate state for the North Karnataka region comprising of six districts as there has been no development in this part of the state," Vinod Kumar, member of Kalyana Karnataka had told ANI on Wednesday.

Hyderabad-Karnataka is the name given to north Karnataka. The issue over separate statehood for north Karnataka has come up on numerous occasions.

Earlier this year, the Uttara Karnataka Pratyeka Rajya Horata Samiti observed a bandh in several districts of the state to raise their demand for separate statehood for north Karnataka region.