Maharashtra-Karnataka border row: Declare Belagavi as Union Territory, says Sena

Amid a simmering border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka which spilled onto roads, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday (December 7) demanded Belagavi be declared a Union Territory and claimed incidents of violence in Belagavi cannot take place without “Delhi’s support”.

He also hit out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, saying the state government appeared weak and helpless to counter such attacks.

Raut also alleged attempts are being made to make Maharashtra unstable as no chief minister of Karnataka had ever staked claim to (villages in) Solapur and Sangli.

Also read: ‘Don’t visit Belagavi’: Bommai tells Maharashtra ministers amid raging border row

Hitting back, Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Chandrashekhar Bawankule asked the Rajya Sabha member to refrain from making “baseless and provocative comments”.

The decades-old raging dispute between the two states spilled onto roads on Tuesday with stones being hurled at vehicles entering Karnataka from the Maharashtra side near a toll booth at Hirebaugwadi in Belagavi district.

Similarly, at least four buses from Karnataka were defaced in Pune district allegedly by activists of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.

Also read: Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary dispute: Security tightened in Belagavi district

Raut in a tweet on Wednesday targeted the Central government by claiming that Marathi people and vehicles from Maharashtra cannot be attacked in Belagavi without “Delhis support”.

“Workers of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti have been arrested. The game of ending Marathi self-esteem by breaking its backbone has started. The attacks in Belagavi are part of the same conspiracy. Get up Marathas get up!” Raut said.

Later, talking to reporters, Raut said Belagavi and surrounding Marathi-speaking areas along the Karnataka-Maharashtra border be declared as a Union Territory.

“If Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has guts, he should demand the disputed areas be declared as a union territory immediately,” he said.

Raut said people are ready to go to Belagavi under the leadership of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar.

“We don’t know what is happening? There is a BJP government at the Centre, there is a BJP government in Karnataka and also in Maharashtra,” Raut said.

A day earlier, Pawar had said he and his associates, an apparent reference to the constituents of Maha Vikas Aghadi, will visit Belagavi to give confidence to activists of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES).

“(Chief Minister Eknath) Shinde says he has created a revolution. What kind of a revolution it is can be seen in the manner how the state is looking weak to counter these attacks,” Raut said.

Those who quit the Shiv Sena saying they have self-respect have now decided to stay silent, he added.