Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar asserted that not even a single village will be ceded to Maharashtra, as he condemned the resolution passed in the neighbouring state's legislature regarding inclusion of Marathi-speaking villages here.
He said the whole state is united on this issue, strongly condemns and opposes the resolution by Maharashtra assembly. Entire Karnataka and Congress party strongly condemns their resolution about inclusion of our villages into Maharashtra. We express our opposition to it. We are not ready to give even a single village from Karnataka and we don't want theirs. Our borders are fixed and people are living, Shivakumar said.
It is our duty to protect the Kannada language, our villages and the state. We are ready to give all kinds of cooperation on this issue. We oppose their resolution, we will raise it in assembly as well and the Congress is ready to move a resolution in this regard, he added.
The Maharashtra legislature today unanimously passed a resolution to legally pursue the inclusion of 865 Marathi-speaking villages in Karnataka into the western state, amid the raging boundary dispute between the two states.
We should all be united and let's all together strive to protect our state's pride, he added. Alleging that the BJP Ministers there in Maharashtra raked up this issue first at the time of elections, as part of a conspiracy, and they have been joined by other parties there now, Shivakumar said, there is BJP at the Centre, state and in Maharashtra, for the sake of their politics, they are aiding such things.