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Updated November 25th, 2022 at 11:26 IST

'Won't give even inch of Maharashtra's land': CM Shinde on border dispute with Karnataka

Amid the Maharashtra-Karnataka border row, CM Eknath Shinde on Thursday said that his government would not let even an inch of Maharashtra's land go anywhere.

Reported by: Ajay Sharma
eknath shinde
Image: PTI | Image:self
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As the border row between Karnataka and Maharashtra continues to intensify, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday said that his government will not let even an inch of Maharashtra's land go anywhere.

Speaking to reporters over the border dispute with Karnataka, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said, "We are doing the work of giving justice to the Marathi people in the border areas. Not even an inch of land in Maharashtra will be allowed to go anywhere... It is our government’s responsibility to solve the problems of 40 villages."

Notably, Shinde's statement came after Uddhav Thackeray slammed the former saying that the Maharashtra CM has no courage to speak against his Karnataka counterpart. Taking a swipe at Shinde, Thackeray said, "Have we lost our courage as Karnataka chief minister is easily making claims on Maharashtra villages." 

The issue flared up with a heated war of words between the two states when Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai stated some villages reeling under water crisis in Maharashtra’s Sangli district should merge with Karnataka, which faced a strong response by Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis, who said no villages have sought a merger with Karnataka and there was no question of any kind of amalgamation.

War of words between Maharashtra & Karnataka leaders

On Monday, Basavaraj Bommai said that he had formed a formidable legal team of senior lawyers from the Supreme Court and Karnataka to deal with the border row case when it comes up before the apex court. Following this, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday appointed cabinet members Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai as nodal ministers to coordinate with the legal team regarding a court case on the border dispute with Karnataka. 

On Tuesday, Bommai said that panchayats in Maharashtra's Jat taluka had passed a resolution in the past to merge with Karnataka when there was a severe drought situation and acute drinking water crisis. Adding further he said that his government has evolved schemes to help them by providing water. Reacting to Bommai's statement, Fadnavis highlighted that this issue dates back to 2012. The Maharashtra Deputy CM also affirmed that not a single village in his state would be ceded to Karnataka. 

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Maharashtra Deputy CM Fadnavis stated, "We took very important decisions after our CM chaired a meeting. We decided to help people in the border areas and introduce additional schemes. That's why the Karnataka CM may have given such a statement. Not even one village in Maharashtra will go anywhere. But we will fight in the Supreme Court and try to retrieve our areas such as Belgaum and Nippani". 

After Fadnavis's remark, Bommai accused his BJP colleague of giving a "provocative" statement and said, "Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has made a provocative statement on the Karnataka- Maharashtra border issue and his dream will never come true. Our government is committed to protecting the country's land, water and borders. There is no question of giving up any space in the border districts of Karnataka." Adding further he said that his demand is to get the Kannada-speaking areas of Maharashtra like Solapur and Akkalkot should join Karnataka.

It is pertinent to mention that since the inception of Maharashtra in 1960, the state has been embroiled with Karnataka, in a dispute over the status of the Belgaum (also called Belagavi) district and 80 other Marathi-speaking villages, which are in the control of the southern state.

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Published November 25th, 2022 at 11:26 IST

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