Karnataka’s border dispute with Maharashtra has been resolved, the Karnataka Assembly said in a resolution on Wednesday, after Union Home Minister Amit Shah formed a committee of three ministers from the two neighboring states to avoid a 56-year-old stalemate. old border dispute.
“On the basis of language, the day the state was reformed, the border of the state was established. As far as the state is concerned, there was no border dispute with Maharashtra and the recommendations of the Justice Mahajan Commission were final,” the proposed resolution said.
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The dispute was the subject of a half-day debate in the assembly being held in Belagavi on Tuesday. Both houses of the Karnataka legislature are likely to pass a resolution to this effect on Wednesday.
Chief Minister Basvaraj Bommai on Tuesday suggested that both houses pass a resolution saying that the border issue is settled, to which Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah agreed.
The development came after Siddaramaiah raised the issue at Zero Hour and Bommai replied that as far as the state was concerned, the border dispute was settled and the state would not give up a single inch of land to Maharashtra. The state government will soon hold an all-party meeting on the issue, the chief minister said.
Bommai recalled an incident in June 1986 when Sharad Pawar of the National Congress Party, despite being banned from entering Karnataka, managed to come to Belagavi, hide in a house and participate in a protest jointly organized by the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES). ) and the Shiv Sena.
Similarly, even as Karnataka barred the entry of Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraje Desai, who had proposed to meet the Maharashtrians, the state authorities maintained an eagle watch at the border, Bommai said.
“The government has not accepted Maharashtra’s tactics,” the chief minister said. Maharashtra Shiv Sena MP Dharyaseel Mane said he had sent his tour program to Karnataka, seeking ‘Y’ category security. However, he was informed of the prohibitory order in Belagavi and could not enter the state, he said.
Despite the rights to move within any state without a permit, there could be a ban on entry for some people who disturb law and order, Bommai said.
Responding to Siddaramaiah, who said the government should hold an all-party meeting before attending Shah’s meeting, Bommai said the state government also thought so, but did not have time for it. Karnataka’s letter to Shah, written by the state’s chief secretary to the government, was another proof of the state’s “hard-hitting” border argument in the Supreme Court, the chief minister said.
Earlier, Siddaramaiah had protested that the state government was not taking all political parties into confidence before attending Shah’s meeting. He said Maharashtra’s claim on Belagavi and other parts of Karnataka was politically motivated. The pro-Maharashtrian MES organization has become a hindrance and headache which should be banned in the state, he added.
The former minister said that Karnataka has no border disputes. The Mahajan committee was formed on Maharashtra’s request despite protest from Karnataka, he said. Maharashtra did not go along with the committee’s recommendations, he added. “We will not give away even a single inch of our land and the recommendations of the justice Mahajan Commission are final for us,” Siddaramaiah said.
Many legislators participated in the discussion, including those from Belagavi district. After the unanimous passage of the resolution on Wednesday, it would be sent to the Maharashtra government, the Union government and the Supreme Court, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders said.
On 14 December, Shah told Bommai and his Maharashtra counterpart Eknath Shinde not to meet on the border dispute until the Supreme Court decided it, and asked them to form a six-member committee with three ministers from neighboring states. solving the crisis
Meanwhile, Ashok Chandaragi of the Kannada Organizations Action Committee welcomed the state’s stand on the issue. “Maintaining the status quo or implementing Justice Mahajan’s recommendations should be accepted,” he said.
Kannada organizations also welcomed the government’s move. “It is a good sign that at least the government has bowed to the demand of Kannadigas in border areas,” said Deepak Gudaganatti, district president of Belagavi, one of the protesting outfits.