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Maharashtra stakes claim to Karnataka districts, CM Bommai says won’t cede an inch
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The row started when Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said that it was a “regret” that districts along the border are now a part of Karnataka.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday, May 2, urged Maharashtra politicians not to use the language debate or the border issue for their political survival, as he asserted that Karnataka will not give an inch of its land to the neighbouring state. Noting that several Kannada speaking areas were in Maharashtra, he said the government is mulling ways to incorporate them into Karnataka.
The Chief Minister was responding to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s statement on Sunday that the Shiv Sena would continue to support the fight of Marathi-speaking people residing in border areas of neighbouring Karnataka to include those places in Maharashtra. “There is a political crisis in Maharashtra, it is there now, their entire government is at rock bottom, so they create a language bogey and raise the border issue. To survive politically they do this,” CM Bommai said.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said, “Karnataka’s stand on the border issue is very clear, and the state is not going to yield for anything. We stand firmly by our decisions, they (Maharashtra) also know it. I strongly urge the politicians of Maharashtra not to use language bogey or border issue for their political survival,” he said.
Belagavi lies on the Maharashtra border near Kolhapur district, and consists of both Kannada and Marathi speakers. After India became independent of British rule, these areas around Belagavi became a part of Karnataka, when the state was formed in 1956. Since then, the area has been under dispute.
The most recent stir was created when Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, on the occasion of Maharashtra’s foundation day on Sunday, said, “While we are celebrating 62 years of formation of Maharashtra, we regret that the Marathi-speaking villages in Bidar, Bhalki, Belgaum, Karwar, Nippani and other places in Karnataka could not be merged with Maharashtra. The citizens of Maharashtra and its government are with their fight to be part of Maharashtra. I assure that we would keep supporting their fight till these villages become part of Maharashtra,” Pawar had said on the occasion of Maharashtra’s foundation day on Sunday.
The Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), which has been fighting in the border areas of Belagavi for the merger of 800-odd villages with Maharashtra, had also some time ago submitted a memorandum of their demands to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Read: Belagavi dispute explained: Why Karnataka and Maharashtra are fighting over one district
The Chief Minister was responding to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s statement on Sunday that the Shiv Sena would continue to support the fight of Marathi-speaking people residing in border areas of neighbouring Karnataka to include those places in Maharashtra. “There is a political crisis in Maharashtra, it is there now, their entire government is at rock bottom, so they create a language bogey and raise the border issue. To survive politically they do this,” CM Bommai said.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said, “Karnataka’s stand on the border issue is very clear, and the state is not going to yield for anything. We stand firmly by our decisions, they (Maharashtra) also know it. I strongly urge the politicians of Maharashtra not to use language bogey or border issue for their political survival,” he said.
Belagavi lies on the Maharashtra border near Kolhapur district, and consists of both Kannada and Marathi speakers. After India became independent of British rule, these areas around Belagavi became a part of Karnataka, when the state was formed in 1956. Since then, the area has been under dispute.
The most recent stir was created when Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, on the occasion of Maharashtra’s foundation day on Sunday, said, “While we are celebrating 62 years of formation of Maharashtra, we regret that the Marathi-speaking villages in Bidar, Bhalki, Belgaum, Karwar, Nippani and other places in Karnataka could not be merged with Maharashtra. The citizens of Maharashtra and its government are with their fight to be part of Maharashtra. I assure that we would keep supporting their fight till these villages become part of Maharashtra,” Pawar had said on the occasion of Maharashtra’s foundation day on Sunday.
The Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), which has been fighting in the border areas of Belagavi for the merger of 800-odd villages with Maharashtra, had also some time ago submitted a memorandum of their demands to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Read: Belagavi dispute explained: Why Karnataka and Maharashtra are fighting over one district
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