Maharashtra leaders slam Karnataka minister over demand to declare Mumbai a UT

A day after Karnataka minister J C Madhuswamy said Mumbai qualifies to be a Union Territory considering the cosmopolitan population, Maharashtra leaders across political parties strongly condemned the demand. State Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Mumbai only belongs to Maharashtra “not to anyone’s father.” Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday asserted that Mumbai is part of Maharashtra and nobody can take it away from the state.

He was talking to reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan premises here in response to a query over Karnataka Law minister J C Madhuswamy*s statement that Mumbai qualifies to be a Union Territory. The winter session of the Maharashtra legislature is currently underway in Nagpur. I feel that we should not give importance to such ministers. Mumbai is part of Maharashtra and no one can take it away from Maharashtra," Thackeray said.Thackeray, a former state minister, also said that it is necessary that peace should be established between Maharashtra and Karnataka and law and order should be maintained."Maharashtra has been maintaining patience," he added.The Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader also sought to know why Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai was taking such an aggressive stand on the border issue. Amid the raging border dispute, both Houses of the Maharashtra legislature on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution to "legally pursue" the inclusion of 865 Marathi-speaking villages in Karnataka into the western state.