Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde said that the state should stand firmly behind people in the Marathi-speaking areas of neighbouring Karnataka and appealed to political parties not to behave in a way that would hurt them.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the state government will initiate a special programme for the development of villages located along the border and resolve their pending issues.
The Maharashtra government was making efforts for the release of the people and leaders detained in Karnataka, he said amid the ongoing boundary dispute between the two states. Raising the issue in the Assembly on the first day of the state legislature's winter session in Nagpur, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar said Shiv Sena MP Dhairyasheel Mane (of the Shinde faction) was stopped from entering Belagavi in Karnataka, despite the intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the boundary dispute.
When it was decided before Amit Shah ji that they (people) will not be stopped, how can a district collector stop the MP (Mane) from entering there. We should not tolerate this high handedness. The CM and DyCM should take a firm stand. When (Karnataka Chief Minister B S) Bommai had accepted it then the collector did not listen to Bommai, Pawar said.
Responding to it, Shinde said there can be no dispute over the fact that the issue raised by Pawar is important in terms of Maharashtra. For the first time, the Union home minister intervened in the matter and mediated. He called a meeting and this has happened for the first time. He has taken the matter seriously, the CM said.
We should stand by the people residing in border areas, back their struggle and act in a way that doesn't hurt them, he added. Shinde said the state government urged the Centre that this issue is related to the self-respect of Maharashtra and that it should take a firm stand in the favour of Maharashtra and people residing in the border areas.
We have got information from the police which parties are behind the resolution (passed by some border villages of Maharashtra) to merge with neighbouring states. We have all the information, Shinde said. He said an irrigation project worth Rs 2,000 crore for 48 villages in Jat taluka in Sangli was cleared by the cabinet on Sunday. Villages in Jath have been facing the issue of water problem for decades. In the state Legislative Council, its Leader of Opposition Ambadas Danve also raised the issue of the simmering border row and condemned the ban imposed by the Belagavi district authorities on Shiv Sena MP Mane from going there.