A Tulu promise: Why DKS is trying a different language in BJP's coastal bastion

NEW DELHI: Karnataka chief minister DK Shivakumar on Friday announced that Tulu, spoken in the state's Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, would be recognised as an additional administrative language in the region, fulfilling a long-standing demand."Today, we have decided to make Tulu applicable to Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts and declare it the state’s second additional administrative language," Shivakumar told reporters after a marathon cabinet meeting in Mangaluru.According to a cabinet note shared by the chief minister’s office, Tulu would be Karnataka’s "second additional administrative language" in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.The 2011 national census recorded more than 18 lakh native Tulu speakers in Karnataka, whose population was recorded at over six crore at the time.