The Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute dominated political space in New Delhi on Saturday with Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa pledging not to compromise on the security of the "linguistic minority" of the Marathi-speaking people in Belgaum region even as Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan led a Congress delegation to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and the prime minister to complain about repression and police atrocities to these people in the disputed areas.
Addressing a press conference after meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P Chidambaram and BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani on the illegal mining row that rocked Karnataka whole of this week, Yeddyurappa asserted that the Belgaum dispute had already been settled by the Mahajan Commission and what remains for the Centre to implement its report.
He faulted the Maharashtra leaders trying to create "confusion unnecessarily where there is no dispute" as there is full harmony and Marathi and Kannadiga people in the Belgaum region have been living like brothers for centuries. Why create the divide when we all are first Indians and then only Marathi, Kanadiga, Tamilians or Malayalis, the Karnataka chief minister affirmed.
He also seized the opportunity to express concern over a Kannadiga beaten up by the Shiv Sena activists in Kolhapur on Friday, saying this should