Published - January 09, 2026 08:20 am IST - Bengaluru Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement A day after the Karnataka Border Area Development Authority delegation met Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to urge him to reject the Malayalam Bhasha Bill 2025, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday (January 8, 2026) urged his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan to withdraw the Bill to protect the interests of Kannada-speaking linguistic minorities in Kerala. Terming the Bill as an “attack on the linguistic freedom protected in the Constitution,” he said: “We did not expect that the Communist government in Kerala would crush the basic rights of linguistic minorities.