'Maha-K'tka border dispute a closed chapter'

Maintaining that Karnataka viewed the state's border row with Maharashtra as 'a closed chapter', Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Wednesday said there was no need for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention in the matter.

"The border dispute with Maharashtra is a closed chapter as far as Karnataka is concerned. The Mahajan Commission recommendation on the issue is final and binding on both the states," Yeddyurappa told mediapersons in Belgaum.

His comment came after his attention was drawn to Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari's statement that chief ministers of both states should sit together and seek the prime minister's intervention to resolve the row.

"There is no need for the prime minister's intervention on an issue which has already been settled," Yeddyurappa declared.

However, he said he would write to Gadkari detailing the recommendations of the Mahajan Commission that went into the border tangle and submitted its report in 1976.

Gadkari during his recent visit in Belgaum had made such a suggestion.

Yeddyurappa said he would write to Prime Minister Singh to direct banks to extend credit up to Rs 50,000 at two per cent interest to farmers and also convene a meeting of all heads of nationalised banks in Bengaluru shortly on the issue.

On the issue of release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, he refused to be drawn into a debate and remarked weathermen have predicted good rains in the catchment area and water 'will automatically flow' in such a situation.