Karnataka ready to swap border villages with Maharashtra

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has expressed his willingness to swap Marathi-speaking villages with Kannada-speaking villages on the state’s border with Maharashtra.

However, Kumaraswamy said the “give and take” of villages and towns along the border should be within the recommendations of the Mahajan Commission report on the border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra.

As per the Mahajan Commission report’s recommendation, Karnataka was ready to transfer 262 villages to Maharashtra provided the latter transferred 248 villages to Karnataka, Kumaraswamy said.

However, Karnataka Government is planning to write a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Federal Home Minister Shivaraj Patil seeking action against the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra R R Patil for making an “inflammatory” speech at the rally convened by Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES) in Belgaum recently.

“It is highly improper and unethical for the Deputy Chief Minister of a neighbouring state to come here and make a statement that is anti-constitutional and against the spirit of federalism”, Kumaraswamy said referring to Patil’s demand for merger of Belgaum, Nippani, Bidar, Bhalki and Karwar with Maharahstra.

The Government will also lead an all-party delegation to the Federal Government to press for implementation of Mahajan Commission report.

Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa also joined the chorus among politicians in Karnataka against his Maharashtra counterpart. “We will write a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh against the provocative and uncalled for statements made by R R Patil”, he said.

He said an all-party delegation from Karnataka will shortly meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi and press the Federal Government to act immediately on the border row. “There should not be any delay in the implementation of the Mahajan Commission report. The state will not pass any more resolutions on the issue”, Yediyurappa said.