Karnataka government approves state flag, to seek approval from Centre

The Karnataka government on Thursday approved a flag of the state. The state government will send the details of the flag to the central government, following which it will be announced as the flag of Karnataka.

In 2017, the Congress-led Karnataka government had set up a nine-member committee to design the state flag. The panel had later submitted a report to the Siddaramaiah government on the state flag getting legal sanctity.

Karnataka govt approves state flag. It will be sent to central govt for approval, after that it will be announced as the state flag. pic.twitter.com/BwidTfnyUb — ANI (@ANI) March 8, 2018

The panel was constituted through an official order by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on June 6. The order nominated the principal secretary of the Kannada and culture department as the chairperson of the committee.

The flag still faces a major hurdle at the Centre, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power. While it was in power in Karnataka in 2012, the BJP had told the Karnataka High Court that it had not accepted the suggestions to declare yellow and red Kannada flag as the official flag of the state saying a separate flag would be against the unity and integrity of the country.

Several BJP leaders from Karnataka had termed the move as one against the integrity of India, saying that the party has always fought for one nation, one flag. They had said that working on a separate flag of the state was against the nation.

On the other hand the Karnataka Chief Minister had defended the move for a separate flag for the state, asking if there is any provision in the Constitution that prohibits the state from having its own flag. "Is there any provision in the Constitution which is prohibiting a state to have its own flag? Did BJP people come across any provision?" Siddaramaiah had said. Responding to allegations that it a political gimmick by the Congress, Siddaramaiah said BJP always makes such false allegations.