The secretary of Karnataka’s Home department on Saturday called his counterpart in Maharashtra to resolve the state border issue, officials said.
According to sources, the Karnataka Home Secretary Rajneesh Goyal called his Maharashtra counterpart to ensure the protection of all Kannadigas in Maharashtra. Fresh Protests over the boundary dispute erupted on Friday during leaders and workers of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) inscribed the message ‘Jai Maharashtra’ on state buses in Karnataka.
Earlier, former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday slammed Karnataka Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai over his remarks on the border dispute. “The Karnataka chief minister has issued a statement on the border issue. It seems like Karnataka CM has suddenly taken it upon himself to stake claim to 40 villages in Maharashtra,” Uddhav said. Speaking on th dispute, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday attacked the ruling Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra, saying it is because of a weak government in Maharashtra that the border dispute has erupted afresh.
“The Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute has cropped up again because of the weakness and inability of the current government in Maharashtra to resolve it. This government has no idea about the state,” Raut told reporters.
Maharashtra’s Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar also condemned Bommai’s remarks on the border dispute between the two states, asking Chief Minister Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis to “give a strong answer”.
Ajit Pawar also sought the Centre’s intervention on the issue. The dispute made fresh headlines after Bommai indulged in a war of words with Fadnavis calling the latter’s earlier remarks on the dispute ‘provocative’. “Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has made a provocative statement on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border issue. However, his dream will never come true. Our government is committed to protecting the country’s land, water and borders,” Bommai tweeted on Wednesday evening. Fadnavis had earlier said no village in Maharashtra would go to Karnataka. “No village in Maharashtra will go to Karnataka! The state government will fight strongly in the Supreme Court to get Marathi-speaking villages including Belgaum-Karwar-Nipani,” he had tweeted.
