Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said his constituency Kanakapura in Ramanagara district will become a part of Bengaluru. Shivakumar, who hails from Kanakapura, also asked people not to sell their land as it will be sold at per square foot rates and not in acreage.

Speaking at the Bhoomi Pooja and Shila Pooja programme for the restoration of Veerabhadraswamy temple in Shivanahalli village, he said their village is next to the highway and hence they should not sell the land to Bengalureans for any reason. "There is KMF dairy here and Kanakapura town is going to grow till here. So, I appeal to everyone, don't sell the land," Shivakumar told the gathering.

"I cannot directly put money in your pocket or build a house for you but God has given me the power to increase your property values tenfold," he said. Shivakumar also asked people not to consider themselves as natives of Ramanagara district. "You are not from Ramanagara district but from Bengaluru. Keep this in your mind. I am telling you the truth on Vijayadashami Day," Shivakumar told people.

Former Chief Minister and Janata Dal Secular second-in-command HD Kumaraswamy slammed Shivakumar for his statement saying the drama of merging Kanakapura with Bengaluru was being enacted only to regularise illegal properties.

"Whose properties are around Kanakapura? How many of them are 'benami'? Where have illegal fences been put up? The drama of including Kanakapura in Bengaluru is a drama played out to regularise all these irregularities," Kumaraswamy alleged.