Protest near Maha-K'taka border as dispute simmers

Police thwarted the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti's mega protest by detaining its leaders and members in Belagavi on Monday.

As the 10-day legislature session of Karnataka started in Belagavi, the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti decided to stage a demonstration demanding the merger of the entire district with Maharashtra.

The MES and some political outfits in Maharashtra have been pressing for this demand on the ground that the district and a few other neighbouring areas of Karnataka have a substantial Marathi speaking population.

However, Karnataka has been rejecting the demand saying that the decision has already been taken decades ago.

Speaking to PTI, Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti activist Suraj Kanbarkar said the police detained MES youth wing president Shubham Shelke, former MLA Manohar Kinekar, treasurer Prakash Marghale and MES councilor Shivaji Mandolkar.

Kanbarkar also said a few people from Maharashtra too tried to enter Karnataka but the Maharashtra police detained them entry.

He also alleged that the police removed the pandal, chairs and tables from the protest site at Vaccine Depot Ground in Tilakwadi in Belagavi after giving permission.

The opposition parties in Maharashtra also raised the issue of the boundary dispute with Karnataka in the winter session of the Maharashtra legislature which began in Nagpur and condemned the ban imposed on MP Dhairyasheel Mane from entering Belagavi district in the neighbouring state.

Shiv Sena MP Mane was recently appointed the chief of an expert committee formed by the Maharashtra government regarding the writ petition in the Supreme Court on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute.

Mane had requested the Belagavi district administration to make arrangements for his visit to the city. However, the district authorities imposed a ban on his entry saying his possible inflammatory speech may create law and order problems.

Talking to reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan complex here, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ajit Pawar said there was meeting of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti on Monday wherein some leaders and other people from Maharashtra were stopped by the Karnataka government.

"Shiv Sena MP Dhairyasheel Mane was not allowed to enter Belagavi. We condemn this incident," the Nationalist Congress Party leader said.

Pawar demanded the government should collect information on this and inform the House about it.

Leader of opposition in Legislative Council Ambadas Danve also condemned the ban on Mane from visiting Belagavi.

On the Maharashtra government's plan to introduce a bill in the legislature to have a Lokayukta law which will also bring the chief minister and ministers under its ambit, Pawar said it will be studied and there is no reason to protest against it if it is in the interest of the people.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole referred to the incident of ink attack on Maharashtra minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Chandrakant Patil at an event in Pune last week over his remarks on social reformers Dr B R Ambedkar and Jyotiba Phule.

Patole took a dim view of action taken against media persons and security personnel present at the event instead of the BJP leader.

Patil had said Ambedkar and Phule “begged” for funds rather than depending on government grants to run educational institutions.