CM Basavaraj Bommai says Karnataka set to fight boundary row with Maharashtra in SC

Karnataka Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has said his government has made all preparations to pursue the legal battle over its boundary dispute with Maharashtra in the Supreme Court.

The development comes after the Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra appointed ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai to coordinate with a legal team regarding the court case on the issue.

The team, according to Bommai, will have former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, Shyam Diwan, former Karnataka advocate general Uday Holla and Maruti Jirale, PTI reported.

The team has made all preparations on how to contest the case (in the Supreme Court). Tomorrow, I will also have a video conference with these lawyers, the Karnataka chief minister said.

The CM said that under Article 3 of the Constitution, the State Reorganisation Act was passed. After the reorganisation of states, there is no instance of any review plea ever considered in the country, he added.

What has happened in Maharashtra is that the border dispute itself has become a political object. Irrespective of the party affiliation, all the political parties for their political reasons raise the issue. But they will never succeed. Maharashtra, since its inception in 1960, has been entangled in a dispute with Karnataka over the status of Belgaum (also called Belagavi) district and 80 other Marathi speaking villages, which are in the control of the southern state.