Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday said that Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde must take all the parties in confidence before taking any decision on the border dispute with Karnataka.
“Maharashtra CM Shinde must keep all the parties in confidence before taking any decision…Parliament session is about to begin, I request all MPs to come together and take a stand on the same,” Sharad Pawar told reporters regarding the Maharashtra-Karnataka border issue. He said, “Despite CM Shinde’s talk with Karnataka CM, he has not shown any softness on the issue…One must not test our (Maharashtra) patience and this shouldn’t go in the wrong direction.”
After the Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute escalated, many untoward incidents took place in Belagavi.
Yesterday, Karnataka CM Bommai appealed to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to fight the border dispute issue legally as it is in court now. Bommai also raised concerns over the visit of the two ministers to Belagavi.
Meanwhile, in Belagavi’s Chikkodi as a precautionary measure, police presence has been tightened along the border.
According to police, six Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) contingents are deployed in Nippani Taluk. 450 policemen assigned to Kuganolli Check Post. Senior officials such as the Superintendent of Police (SP) Additional SP, DSPs, Police Inspectors, Sub-inspectors and 450 police personnel have been deployed.
All inner roads of Nippani and Chikkodi taluk are blocked. Police are checking every vehicle entering the border.
Belagavi is currently part of Karnataka but is claimed by Maharashtra. As per media reports, the long-running Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute started back in 1953, after the Maharashtra government objected to the inclusion of 865 villages including Belagavi.
The villages are spread across Belagavi and the north-western and north-eastern regions of Karnataka – all bordering Maharashtra.
After the implementation of the State Reorganization Act, of 1956, the Maharashtra government demanded the readjustment of its border with Karnataka. Following this, a four-member committee was formed by both states.
Maharashtra government had expressed willingness to transfer Kannada-speaking 260 villages predominantly, but it was turned down by Karnataka.
Now, both Karnataka and Maharashtra governments have approached the Supreme Court to expedite the matter, and the matter is still pending.
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Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES) leader Sarita Patil said, “The Maharashtra Ministers who were to come in Belgavi, now their programme is cancelled due to Mahaparinirvan Diwas as we got to know from Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s statement.”
Maharashtra has appointed Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai as the coordinating ministers for the state’s border row with Karnataka. The two states have been entangled in a row for decades over the demarcation of boundaries between them.
“Their visit is cancelled now but we hope that they will visit on some other day. I also request them to visit by this year. On December 19, there is Adhiveshan (session) in Belgavi and I request them on behalf of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi to visit here,” she added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by HW News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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