Karnataka-Maharashtra row: 'Are we living on India-Pakistan border'? - 10 points

Maharashtra continues to ferociously claim parts of Karnataka as its territory, a tussle that has led to activists and political parties of the two states trading barbs. A program scheduled by Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti, an organisaton that demands the merger of Belagavi with Maharashtra was foiled by police on Monday. Read the top 10 updates in this key story.

Belagavi (Karnataka):Amid the simmering border tension between Maharashtra and Karnataka, the Mahamelava program scheduled to be held by the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) on Monday, the day of the beginning of the winter session, was banned.

MES and some political outfits in Maharashtra have been demanding the merger of Belagavi with the state on the ground that the district and a few other neighbouring areas of Karnataka had a substantial Marathi-speaking population.

Here are the 10 points in this big story:

1. The Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti had invited the political leaders of Maharashtra to come to Belagavi. But the district administration had issued an order restricting the entry of Belagavi by Maharashtra Border Committee Chairman, Shiv Sena MP Dhairyasheel Mane.
2. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 were enforced at the place. The police detained five members of the MES who were coming to hold a Mahamelava despite the ban. Over 300 members of Shiv Sena, Congress, and NCP were stopped at the Belagavi border and sent back by Karnataka.
3. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde Monday said the state should stand firmly behind people in the Marathi-speaking areas of neighbouring Karnataka and appealed to political parties not to behave in a way that would hurt them.
4. Shinde said the state government urged the Centre that this issue is related to the self-respect of Maharashtra and that it should take a firm stand in the favour of Maharashtra and people residing in the border areas.
5. Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Ambadas Danve also raised the issue of the simmering border row and condemned the ban imposed by the Belagavi district authorities on Shiv Sena MP Mane from going there. "Are we living on the India-Pakistan border that such things are happening?" Danve asked.
6. Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray faction member Arvind Sawant condemned the "ban" on the entry of party MP Dhairyasheel Mane into Karnataka's Belagavi district and called it an attack on the Constitution. Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, the South Mumbai MP also called for Union Home Minister Amit Shah's intervention in the matter and demanded protection for MES leaders.
7. Sawant described the Belagavi district administration's move as an "insult" to the Home minister, saying it came close on the heels of Shah advising Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and his Maharashtra counterpart Eknath Shinde on resolving the boundary dispute between the two states.
8. Stepping in to defuse the border tensions, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on December 14 held a meeting with chief ministers of the two states and asked them to set up a six-member joint ministerial panel to address related issues and not make any claims till the Supreme Court pronounces its verdict on the dispute.
9. Five people including MES leader R.I.Patil were taken into custody near the vaccine depot in Belagavi. The MES leaders had earlier called for them to arrive at the vaccine depot at 11 am on Monday. As the MES had called to arrive at the vaccine depot in Tilakwadi, Belagavi, a tight police presence was made at the place.
10. A thick security blanket was thrown across Belagavi city as the winter session of the Karnataka Legislature started on Monday. Amid fear over the border row with Maharashtra and disruption due to protests by various communities, the entire city resembled a cantonment of sorts.