Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and expressed his displeasure over the incidents at Hirebagwadi near Belagavi. CM Bommai said that strict action will be taken against culprits.He assured Fadnavis that vehicles coming from Maharashtra will be protected. For the unversed, stones were pelted at a lorry with a Maharashtra number plate in the border district of Belagavi on Tuesday, December 6. The lorry was travelling from Pune to Bengaluru.At the protest today, windshield of at least one truck was damaged as scores of protesters carrying the traditional Kannada/Karnataka flag blocked traffic. Police were deployed to calm the situation, but the protesters were seen jostling with cops and laying down on the road.
Belagavi is at its centre as Maharashtra has been claiming that this Marathi-majority area was wrongly given to Kannada-majority Karnataka in the language-based reorganisation of states in the 1960s.Karnataka recently renewed its claim over some villages in Maharashtra, igniting a fresh round of acrimony even as both states have the same party, the BJP, in power. Maharashtra agriculture minister Abdul Sattar also condemned the brutal act saying, "The Maharashtra and Karnataka boundary dispute is long pending. It has to be resolved at proper forum.""The attack on Maharashtra vehicles in Belagavi cannot be justified. The top leadership of centre, states of Maharashtra and Karnataka should hold discussions to address the issue," he added. Maharashtra minister Shambhuraj Desai termed the violence at Belgavi as "unfortunate".Amid the ongoing border row with Karnataka, the visit of the Maharashtra delegation to Belagavi in the neighbouring state scheduled for Tuesday was cancelled, and will be rescheduled, said Shumbhuraj Desai, one of the two nodal ministers for coordination regarding legal matters in the dispute. The Opposition parties, meanwhile, slammed the government for its failure to represent Maharashtra.