As many as 12 members of the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) resigned on May 24 in protest against the delay in carving out a separate urban local body for Dharwad. All of them are from the Congress party.

From the Hubballi-Dharwad-74 constituency, Kavita Kabber, Shambhu Salmani, Dr. Mayur More, Parveen Desai, Ganesh Mudhol, Bilkisbanu Mulla, and Manjunath Badakuri submitted their resignations to block Congress president Gauri.

From the Rural-71 constituency, Rajashekhar Kamati, Suravva Patil, Dilshad Begum Nadaf, Deepa Neeralakatti, and Prakash Ghatge handed over their resignation letters to block Congress president Arvind Eganagoudar.

They said Dharwad’s self-respect and protection of its interests are most important to them. They said that, if a separate corporation is not formed, their positions hold no meaning, and that the resignations were intended to draw the attention of the government of Karnataka.

The seer of Murugha mutt Mallikarjun swamiji, some members of the Christian Catholic community, and representatives of the Holy Cross Church, have extended support to the movement for a separate ULB for Dharwad.