Border dispute: Opposition targets K'taka govt in Maha Assembly over 'ill-treatment' of Marathi people

Opposition parties in Maharashtra on Tuesday targeted the Karnataka government in the state Assembly here over the alleged ill-treatment being meted out to Marathi-speaking people in the neighbouring southern state. Raising the issue in the Lower House, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Jayant Patil said a lathi was raised at his party colleague and legislator Hasan Mushrif on Monday who had gone to Belagavi to meet the Marathi-speaking people. Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar said the issue is very sensitive to everyone.

Replying to the issue, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said for the first time the Centre has intervened which is a positive step. Speaker Rahul Narvekar said it has already been decided the matter will be discussed in detail and agreed to by the treasury and Opposition benches. The long-pending border dispute between the two states flared up again on Monday when members of Opposition parties- Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Congress, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) – from Maharashtra were stopped from entering Karnataka by the police. They were scheduled to attend a gathering organised by the pro-Marathi group Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), an Opposition leader from Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district had said.

These leaders, including NCP MLA Hasan Mushrif, were on their way to participate in a ‘maha melava’ (mega gathering) organized by the MES in the adjoining state.

Leaders alleged they were lathi-charged by the Karnataka Police at the border, while the Maharashtra police detained them and later released them. However, the Kolhapur district police refuted the claim of detention.