Maha govt should move SC to seek Union territory status for disputed region, says Uddhav Thackeray

Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the state government should request the Supreme Court that all disputed regions be declared as a Union Territory as long as Maharashtra-Karnataka border issue is pending before it.

Speaking to reporters here, Thackeray congratulated the Maharashtra government after both houses of the state legislature passed resolutions on the border dispute. We will support every measure that is in Maharashtra’s interest, he said.

On the Shinde government’s announcement that it will implement welfare schemes for the Marathi-speaking people in border areas of the southern state, Thackeray asked whether the Karnataka government, which does not even allow leaders from Maharashtra to enter, would allow this.

When he demanded that disputed areas like Belagavi in Karnataka be declared as UT pending the Supreme Court case, the Maharashtra government said the apex court had rejected this proposal in 2008, Thackeray said. But the situation now is not what it was in 2008, he added.

Post-2008, the Karnataka government renamed Belgaum as Belagavi and gave it the status of second capital, all of which which defied the SC’s 2008 directions, the Shiv Sena leader said.

The Maharashtra government should, therefore, file a fresh writ petition in the SC and demand UT status for the disputed area pending the legal resolution, he said.