Bengaluru: A long-standing demand by Kannada activists for an official State flag became a major controversy yesterday with Karnataka Government setting up a nine-member Committee to examine the legality and desirability of having and designing a separate flag for the State.

The Committee is headed by Kannada and Culture Department Principal Secretary. Heads of Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Finance and Law Departments and PWD are the members of the panel, which will hold consultation with experts and Kannada writers.

If the flag comes into being, Karnataka will be the second State to have its official flag after Jammu and Kashmir, which enjoys a special status under Article 370 of the Constitution.

While Chief Minister Siddharamaiah maintained that nothing unconstitutional was afoot and dared the BJP to publicly reject the demand for an official flag for Karnataka, sources in the Government said that it was a well-planned strategy by Siddharamaiah centred around Kannada and Kannadiga pride to take on BJP’s Hindutva appeal.

Siddharamaiah defended the decision and said that there was nothing wrong in having a separate State flag. “We have a Nadageethe (State song), what is wrong in having an official State flag? There has been a demand from various quarters that official status be accorded to the Kannada flag. The panel will look into all aspects. The Government will take a call on its next step of action only after the panel submits its report,” he said.

He said that the Constitution of India does not restrict States from having their own official flags. To a query, he sought to know whether there is any specific provision in the Constitution that prohibits the State from having its own flag. “Has the BJP come across such a provision?” he asked.

He dared the BJP leaders to make a public statement that the party is not in favour of a flag for Karnataka. On the BJP’s charge that the flag issue is being raised with an eye on the Assembly polls, Siddharamaiah said, “Elections are still a long way to go… It will be held in April-May next year and not tomorrow. The BJP is indulging in a disinformation campaign,” he remarked.

Siddharamaiah said that having a State flag will not come in the way of national integrity and unity. “The National Flag comes first. State flag is not an alternative to the National Flag,” he added.

BJP opposes move

Meanwhile, the BJP said that Siddharamaiah’s move was anti-national. The BJP will now hold protests to up the ante against it.

BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje said that the move by the Siddharamaiah Government was unacceptable and rather the national stands for unity and for ‘one nation, one flag’. “If Siddharamaiah thinks that he can have a flag, it is anti-national,” she added.

Cong seeks explanation

The Congress High Command wants to know in what context CM Siddharamaiah has Constituted a committee to examine whether the State can have a flag. “The Congress does not have a policy for a State having a separate flag. I have asked the Government to clarify,” K.C. Venugopal, AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka, said. “The country has only one flag and that is the National Flag,” he added.