Nagpur (Maharashtra): The border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka saw yet another turn to it on Tuesday as Maharashtra Legislative Council unanimously passed a resolution to "legally pursue" inclusion of 865 Marathi-speaking villages in Karnataka into the western state.
The resolution also sought that the Centre should ask the southern state to guarantee the safety of Marathi people living in the border areas.
Here are the latest 10 updates in this big story:
- The resolution moved by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in both Houses of the Maharashtra legislature expressed solidarity with the people living in the boundary areas.
- "The state government will legally pursue in the Supreme Court the case to include (in Maharashtra) inch and inch of land of Belgaum, Karwar Bidar, Nipani, Bhalki cities and the 865 Marathi-speaking villages in Karnataka," the resolution said.
- The central government, according to the resolution, should urge the Karnataka government to implement the decision taken in a meeting with the Union Home Minister (over the border dispute issue). The central government should give directives to the Karnataka government to guarantee the safety of the Marathi people in the border areas, it added.
- The Council passed the resolution unanimously in the presence of Deputy Chairperson Dr Neelam Gorhe. The border issue dates back to 1957 after the reorganisation of states on linguistic lines. Karnataka maintains the demarcation done on linguistic lines as per the States Reorganisation Act and the 1967 Mahajan Commission Report as final.
- The Maharashtra move comes days after the Karnataka Assembly passed a similar resolution aimed at securing the disputed Belagavi district into its territory. It mentioned that Karnataka will not cede an inch of land to its neighbour and has gone to the extent of calling the border dispute "created" by Maharashtra.
- The Maharashtra government had criticized the move by calling it 'anti-Marathi.' Incidentally, both these states are ruled by the BJP government. Karnataka will face Assembly elections next year; many suggest that raking up the age-old border issue may prove to be advantageous to the BJP government which faces anti-incumbency in the state.
- Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai said the resolution of the Maharashtra Assembly did not have any value and they are doing such things since their case pending before the Supreme Court is very weak. "The resolution of the Karnataka Assembly is very clear and the State is clear in its stand which is constitutionally and legally valid. The people of both States are living cordially. The Maharashtra politicians are known for such tricks as they know well that their case is very weak. The Karnataka government is committed to Kannadigas living in the neighbouring state. We are right constitutionally and legally," Bommai added.
- Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Tuesday said that the state government should approach the Supreme Court to declare Belagavi as a Union Territory till the border dispute is resolved between the two neighboring states. Uddhav argued that though the apex court had decided against declaring the disputed border area as Union Territory the situation is not the same there anymore.
- "The Shinde-Fadnavis government said that the Supreme Court in 2008 said that the disputed area cannot be declared a Union Territory. However, the situation is not the same now because the Karnataka government is not abiding by its terms. Instead, they are conducting their Assembly session there and have even renamed the place as Belagavi," he argued.
- "We supported today's resolution. We will support whatever happens in favour of Maharashtra. But there are some questions. For over two years, people (living in border areas) are pressing to be included in Maharashtra but the government is not doing much about it," the former Chief Minister said.
