Karnataka Samithi (R), Kasaragod was established in 1955 to advocate a merger of Kasaragod with Karnataka state. Umesha Rao, popularly known as Gadinadu Gandhi, was the first president of the organisation and the only person to be elected to the Kerala Assembly unanimously. On his death in 1957, B. S. Kakkillaya succeeded him as president until 1967. A prominent figure in the movement for unification of Karnataka, Kakkillaya was later honoured by the government of Karnataka, which gave the Suvarna Karnataka Ekikarana Award to the Samithi on the occasion of Suvarna Karnataka Rajyotsava in 2006. His photograph was among those used in the Karnataka Government's "Suvarna Karnataka" calendar of 2006.