With the Supreme Court hearing Maharashtra's petition on the border tussle with Karnataka over Belagavi on Wednesday, security has been tightened in the border districts. The police from both states have set up 21 joint check posts in the border areas, according to reports.
The Karnataka police are keeping an eye on protests and anti-social elements ahead of the winter session of the Assembly, scheduled to be held in Belagavi from December 19. Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai are also scheduled to visit Belagavi on December 3.
The border dispute dates back to the 1960s after the reorganisation of states on linguistic lines. Maharashtra laid claim to Belagavi which was part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency as it has a sizeable Marathi-speaking population. It also laid claim to 80 Marathi-speaking villages which are currently part of Karnataka.
Last week, the political row gathered steam after Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde appointed two ministers to coordinate with the legal team regarding the case in the Supreme Court. Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai said soon after that the state has deployed a battery of top lawyers, including Mukul Rohatgi and Shyam Diwan, to fight its case.
Adding to the political heat, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Fadnavis said: “No village in Maharashtra will go to Karnataka. The state government will fight strongly in the Supreme Court to get Marathi-speaking villages in Karnataka including Belgaum-Karwar-Nipani.”
The tussle has put the BJP in a difficult position—the saffron party is in power in Karnataka, and has struck an alliance with the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena to form a government after unseating the Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra.
