Maharashtra offers its Kannada-speaking areas to Karnataka

Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil has kicked up a fresh storm over the vexed border dispute by offering to Karnataka the Kannada-speaking areas of Maharasthra in return for Marathi-speaking areas in Karnataka.

Patil announced his quid pro quo deal at the mammoth rally convened by Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES) in Belgaum to counter the special legislature session convened by Karnataka Government.

Patil said Maharashtra had many Kannada-speaking people and had never been unjust to them. But, the Karnataka Government, Patil said, had been behaving “rudely” with the Marathi-speaking population, by forcing Kannada on them in schools and Government offices.

Patil, who claimed that he had been authorized to attend the rally in Belgaum by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar, said the Mahajan Commission report on the border row is not acceptable to Maharashtra.

He demanded the merger of not only Belgaum, but also Nippani, Bhalki, Bidar and Karwar towns in Karnataka with Maharashtra, besides the 865 Marathi-speaking villages.

He appealed to Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to look at the border row with a national perspective. Warning the Government of Karnataka of a backlash if persecution of Marathi people continued, Patil sought to assure the large gathering of Marathi-speaking people that their struggle for merger with Maharashtra will not go in vain.

Patil also came down heavily on the Karnataka Government for holding a legislature session in Belgaum at a time when the border row was before the Supreme Court. “The fact that the legislature session is being conducted under prohibitory orders shows that it lacks public support”, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra ridiculed.

Later, the MES adopted five resolutions, which included declaration of Belgaum as a Union Territory till the Supreme Court gives its verdict on the border dispute. The MES also resolved the condemn the frequent dissolution of civic bodies in Belgaum that seek the merger of Marathi-dominated areas with Maharashtra and the assault on former Mayor of Belgaum Vijay More by Kannada activists in Bangalore.

Two Maharashtra MPs Sadashiva Mandalekar and Nivedita Mane also addressed the MES rally, besides a host of Shiv Sena leaders.