The Independence to India Act of 1947 provided for the formation of India and Paki stan. 562 Princely States were given the option of either joining India or Pakistan or could remain Independent. Our first Home Minister Sardar Vallababhai Patel (Indian Bismark) persuaded the Princely states to join the Indian Union. But the Rulers of Hyderabad, Junagad and Kashmir refused to join the Indian Union. At that moment, Sardar Vallababhai Patel skillfully handled the situation and merged these Princely States into the Indian Union.
After the merger of Hyderbad, the ruling Government agreed to create Andhra Pradesh which would bring together all Telugu speaking people. Andhra province could not be formed. In Andhra, people started agitations for the formation of Andhra state and Potti Sriramalu undertook a fast unto death for this cause and he died (58 days) in 1952. The unrest spread to many other provinces which wanted unification of provinces on the basis of linguistic and cultural unity. Kannada speaking regions also wanted unification and formation of a separate state.
Some important factors like newspaper editorials, Cultural and Political organizations, poets, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, recommendations of national leaders etc., infused the provincal feeling in the minds of Kannadigas. The Government appointed the Dhar Committee in 1948 to look into the question of the Re-organization of states. The committee’s report did not favour the formation of states on linguistic grounds and opined that it was detrimental to the national integration.
The people were discontented and agitations continued. The J.V.P. Committee (Jawaharial Nehru, Vallababhai Patel and Pattabi Sitharamaiah) was formed in 1949. That committee agreed to the formation of Andhra but refused the formation of Karnataka. Andanappa Doddameti resigned from the Bombay Assembly and started a fast demanding the unification of Kannada speaking regions.
State Reorganization Committee (S.R.C.) was formed in 1953. It consisted of Fazl Ali as (Chairman) and If. M. Kunjru and K.M. Panikkar were its members. The Committee toured all over the state, interviewed thousands of people, studied their petitions and submitted its report on 30th September 1955.
As per its report, with some modifications, the integrated Mysore State came into being on 1 st November 1956. The first Chief Minister of Mysore state was S. Nijalingappa. Mysore state was renamed as Karnataka on 1st November 1973 under the Chief Minister ship of D. Devaraja Urs. Integrated Karnataka -1956
