Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his Karnataka counterpart Basavaraj Bommai will hold a joint meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah today in Delhi to discuss the border dispute between both states.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will also be present at the meeting.
Earlier in the day, Bommai said he will make the state’s stand clear on the border dispute with Maharashtra during the meeting.
“The Union Home Minister has called Chief Ministers of both states to discuss the border dispute, where we will make our stand clear. I will be sharing details about all the developments that have taken place after the State Reorganisation Act till now-when the case (is) before the Supreme Court,” Bommai said.
Speaking to reporters, Bommai said he will also elaborate on the provisions of the Constitution, State Reorganisation Act, and petition about the dispute before the Supreme Court.
The border row had intensified last week, with vehicles from either side being targeted, leaders from both states weighing in, and pro-Kannada and Marathi activists detained by police amid a tense atmosphere in the border district of Belagavi.
Following this, the Karnataka and Maharashtra Chief Ministers spoke to each other over phone and agreed that there should be peace and law and order should be maintained on both sides.
The border issue dates back to 1957 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 814 Marathi-speaking villages which are currently part of Karnataka.
Karnataka maintains the demarcation done on linguistic lines as per the States Reorganisation Act and the 1967 Mahajan Commission Report as final.
And, as an assertion that Belagavi is an integral part of the state, Karnataka has built the ‘Suvarna Vidhana Soudha’, modelled on the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of legislature in Bengaluru, and a legislature session is held there annually.
The winter session of legislature is scheduled to be held in Belagavi from December 19 to 30.
With inputs from News18, PTI
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