Times News Network 
 
Bangalore Aug 11: It could be the ultimate tribute from a chief minister son to his father, who held the highest post in the country. The CM’s secretariat has pushed a proposal sent by a delegation of JD (S) leaders from Tumkur and Hassan to the higher education department to rename Tumkur University after former PM H D Deve Gowda.

The demand for renaming the varsity after the ‘mannina maga’ is part of a larger package for development of Tumkur. The higher education department has been asked to explore the possibility of expanding Tumkur University — youngest in the state — to neighbouring districts including Hassan.

To justify renaming the university after the former Prime Minister, the JD (S) has demanded expanding Tumkur University's jurisdiction to cover Hassan.

Tumkur University, which does not have even a full-fledged academic council and senate or a campus, has just 65 affiliated colleges, while Bangalore University has over 510 colleges under its ambit. Colleges in Hassan are affiliated to University of Mysore which has 122 colleges.

Tumkur University is the only university where all affiliated colleges are restricted to the home district. Bangalore University has affiliated colleges in three districts — Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural and Kolar. Even the University of Mysore has colleges in Mandya, Hassan and Chamarajnagar districts.

BJP leader and higher education minister D H Shankaramurthy is not keen on remaning the varsity right away. "First, the varsity must be strengthened. It has less than 75 acres of land and has not been formally inaugurated. My priority would be to put in place the infrastructure rather than renaming and bringing in more colleges under its ambit".