This is a fight for Maharashtra’s pride, says Aaditya Thackeray on border row

The Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute has resurfaced amid remarks from both the state governments over the claim on villages in the border region. The comments by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai earlier this week created huge uproar in Maharashtra politics with both factions taking dig at each other. Yuva Sena chief and former state minister Aaditya Thackeray dubbed the Karnataka chief minister’s remarks as a “scripted move”. This, he said, was done to divert public ire from the controversy sparked by the recent remarks on Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj made by Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi.

Thackeray Junior, speaking at a party function in Borivli on Saturday, said that one should see the timing of a statement made by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai claiming rights on a few villages from Maharashtra’s Sangli and Solapur districts.“Recently a BJP leader [Trivedi] and Maharashtra governor made derogatory remarks against Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Admirers and followers of the great Maratha King in Maharashtra and across the globe are upset with such derogatory statements. Aware of escalating public ire on this issue, a section of people have consciously raked up Maharashtra-Karnataka border row to divert the public attention from the controversy over Shivaji Maharaj remarks,” Thackeray said. Aaditya Thackeray urged all political parties to oppose the derogatory remarks against the Maratha warrior as well as Karnataka CM’s claim. “Both the issues—insulting our idol and territorial claims made by the Karnataka CM—are against Maharashtra. All should come together as this fight is about Maharashtra’s pride,” said the grandson of late Sena founder Bal Thackeray. The dispute dates back to the 1940s. In 1948, Belgaum municipality had put in a request that the district - with a majority of Marathi-speaking population - be included in the proposed Maharashtra state.India’s states were reorganised on a linguistic basis in 1956. Gradually, Belgaum and 10 other talukas of Bombay Presidency were made part of Mysore state. Mysore was renamed Karnataka in 1973.