Belgaum: Amid a fresh flare-up in the Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute, NCP MLA Rohit Pawar on Monday night visited Belgaum following instructions of Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders, he said. Rohit Pawar, son of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar's brother and an MLA from Karjat-Jamked assembly constituency in Pune district, arrived in Belgaum on Monday night via Kolhapur- Kuganolli route, sources said.
Pawar visited different parts of Belgaum taluk on Tuesday morning. Pawar also visited Maharashtra Ekikaran Sammelan (MES) Belgaum City President Deepak Dalvi, who is ill and enquired about his health. Later, he also visited the Martyr's Memorial and also offered garlands to Shivaji's idol. Later, Pawar also visited Maharashtra High School in Yallur village.
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Local MES workers supported NCP MLA Rohit Pawar's visit to Belgaum. Pawar returned to Maharashtra on Tuesday morning. Maharashtra laid claim to Belagavi, which was part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, as it has a sizeable Marathi-speaking population. It also laid claim to 814 Marathi-speaking villages, which are currently part of Karnataka.
Karnataka maintains the demarcation done on linguistic lines as per the States Reorganisation Act and the 1967 Mahajan Commission Report as final. And, as an assertion that Belagavi is an integral part of the state, Karnataka has built the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, modelled on the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the legislature in Bengaluru, and a legislature session is held there annually.
