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‘Karnataka won’t cede inch of land’ — assembly resolution slams Maharashtra for ‘stoking tensions’

'There is no compromise on matters relating to Karnataka’s land, water, language,' says CM Bommai, who asserts state will take all steps to protect its interests.

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Belagavi: In the midst of an ongoing war of words with Maharashtra, the Karnataka assembly Thursday passed a unanimous resolution asserting that it wouldn’t cede “even an inch of land” on its borders. It condemned Maharashtra’s attempts to “stoke passions” on the issue of Belagavi, which it called a “finished chapter”.

Participating in a discussion in the ongoing winter session of the assembly in Belagavi, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai read out the two-and-a-half page resolution after lambasting Maharashtra’s political leaders for their comments on the border row.

“If they (Maharashtra) leaders continue to talk like this, we will take legal action,” he warned.

The chief minister’s comments come in the wake of mutually recriminatory assertions by politicians in both states over the decades-old border dispute, which has flared up in the past few weeks, at a time when the case is pending in the Supreme Court. The controversy has dominated the discourse in the winter sessions of the legislatures in Maharashtra as well as in poll-bound Karnataka.

Speaking in the assembly Thursday, Bommai said Karnataka wouldn’t “stoop” to the level of these(Maharashtra) leaders, but its silence should not be construed as inability.

“There is no compromise on matters relating to Karnataka’s land, water, language. and the interest of Kannadigas. The feelings of the people of Karnataka and (legislature) members are one on this issue…we are united in our commitment to take both constitutional and legal measures to protect the interests of our state.”

“We condemn the border disputes created by Maharashtra unnecessarily, and this House unanimously passes a resolution that it is committed to protect the interests of the state,”  the resolution said.

Bommai also responded to to Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Sanjay Raut’s reported comment Wednesday that Maharashtra would intrude across the border — like the Chinese incursions at the Line of Actual Control — and claim Belagavi.

“Sanjay Raut is an agent of China and is a traitor. If they attack like China, we will push them back as the Indian Army does on our borders,” Bommai said.

Siddaramaiah, leader of the opposition and former chief minister of Karnataka, backed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, despite having earlier accused it of not being able to resolve the dispute despite holding power in both states as well as the Union.

“They (Maharashtra) leaders are not civilised and do not have culture. But we have to respond in a civilized manner,” he said.

Several MLAs from both parties who represent the northern districts were absent during the passing of the resolution.

Maharashtra has staked claim to Belagavi city and over 800 villages including Bidar, Balki, Nippani, and Karwar. It maintains that these regions ought to be brought into its fold as Marathi-speaking people in these parts outnumber Kannadigas.

In the reorganisation of states in 1956, Belagavi and several other regions that were part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency became part of Mysore state (renamed Karnataka in 1973).

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had convened a meeting of the chief ministers of both states earlier this month to calm tempers, and appealed to both governments not to make any statements against the other.

(Edited by V S Chandrasekar)


Also Read: BJP vs BJP Maharashtra-Karnataka border row has its roots in Sena vs Sena feud.  


 

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