Thackeray blasts Maha govt for sharing water with K'taka

Terming as "shocking" the Maharashtra government's decision to share water with people in the scarcity-hit districts in neighbouring Karnataka, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Monday said the Congress-led government in Maharashtra has "betrayed" the state.

"It seems that Maharashtra government has taken a contract to feed a snake. In Karnataka, immense atrocities are being heaped on Marathi-speaking people but our government has forgotten those atrocities and decided to share water with that state," Thackeray said, in an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana.

"Not a drop of water should be given to Karnataka government which has always been unjust to Marathi-speaking populace there," he said.

Despite a long-drawn dispute over Belgaum issue, Maharashtra and Karnataka recently agreed to share water for the people in the dry districts of both the states.

Both the Congress-led government in Maharashtra and the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka have agreed to do so keeping aside politics over the border issue. The Maharashtra government has agreed to release water from Dudhganga and Warna rivers to the border districts of Karnataka till the monsoon.

In return, Karnataka would release Almati backwater which can help overcome prevailing scarcity in Jat taluka of Sangli district in western Maharashtra. These decisions were taken at the meeting between the

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and a delegation of Karnataka ministers comprising agriculture minister Umesh Katti and industries minister Murugesh Nirani.