Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said Maharashtra is playing politics over border row

Bengaluru:

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has strongly condemned a resolution moved in the assembly of neighbouring Maharashtra, resolving to protect the state’s interests amid a border row between the two states where the BJP is in power.

Karnataka, too, recently passed a resolution on the border row with Maharashtra.

The Maharashtra resolution said there are 865 Marathi-speaking villages, and “every inch of these villages will be brought into Maharashtra”, including Belagavi.

Reacting to Maharashtra’s latest move, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said there is no provision for the resolution they (Maharashtra leaders) have passed.

“They are provoking and threatening to divide us. We condemn this. Many decades have passed since the State Reorganisation Act was passed (in 1956). People in both states live in harmony,” Mr Bommai said.

“Maharashtra is playing politics. And passing such a resolution is just a political gimmick. We stand by our decisions. Not a single inch of Karnataka will go to Maharashtra. We will continue to protect the interest of Kannada people, in Karnataka and Kannada-speaking community outside the border,” Mr Bommai said.

“When the case is pending in Supreme Court, why did they pass such a resolution? Our resolution is different from theirs. Our resolution says we will not let go of our Karnataka (land), while they say want to snatch it from us. When the case is pending in Supreme Court, there’s no meaning to the resolution. We believe in the Supreme Court,” the Karnataka Chief Minister said.

The Maharashtra resolution asserted that 865 villages, including “every inch of Belgaum, Karwar, Bidar, Nipani, Bhalki” will be part of the state.

Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction leader Sanjay Raut had on December 21 stoked controversy with a China parallel. “We will enter Karnataka like China has entered the country,” he said.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena, which was ousted from power in June, has been attacking the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra government, accusing it of not taking a stronger stand against Karnataka.

Belagavi, which has a large Marathi-speaking population and was originally a part of the Bombay presidency that made way to Maharashtra, is the epicentre of the row. Karnataka also claims the south Solapur and Akkalkote regions of Maharashtra, which have a sizeable Kannada-speaking population.