Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute row: NCP asks Centre to take action against Basavaraj Bommai

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Sunday demanded that the Centre take immediate action against Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for allegedly making statements that were disturbing the peace in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Earlier this week, Bommai had claimed that 40 villages in Jat taluka of Sangli district in Maharashtra had passed a resolution in the past to merge with Karnataka, and said that Kannada-speaking areas of the state such as Solapur and Akkalkot should join Karnataka.

Bommai also condemned the alleged incidents of the painting of Karnataka buses with pro-Maharashtra slogans and appealed to the Eknath Shinde government to take immediate steps to stop this. NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said, "Yes, action should be taken against people who caused problems to the buses. But in that case, action should also be taken against Bommai because his unwanted statements on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border issue seem to have influenced the minds of some people who are taking the law into their hands and causing a disturbance."

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Crasto in a statement said the Karnataka chief minister should not have raked up a sub-judice matter and gone a step further by saying that he would claim other districts of Maharashtra as well. “His statements over the last few days are hurting the sentiments of people and making them express their feelings negatively,” the NCP leader said. The Central government must take immediate action against Bommai for making statements that disturbed the peace in both states, he said.

"Why is the BJP's central leadership not asking Bommai to refrain from making such statements? Do they agree with what he said?" Crasto said. The Maharashtra government has appointed cabinet members Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai as nodal ministers to coordinate with the legal team regarding the court case on the border dispute with Karnataka.

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Maharashtra, since its inception in 1960, has been locked in a dispute with Karnataka over the status of the Belgaum (also called Belagavi) district and 80 other Marathi-speaking villages, which are part of the southern state. Maharashtra has staked claim over the Marathi-speaking areas and the matter is pending before the Supreme Court.