Uddhav Thackeray slams Shinde for silence over Karnataka CM Bommai’s statements on border row

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday slammed Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for his silence over the statements made by his Karnataka counterpart Basavaraj Bommai on the decades-old inter-State border dispute between the two States. Mr. Bommai said the visit of Maharashtra Ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai to Belgaum (Belagavi) was not good in the given situation.

The Chief Minister is mum on the statement of Mr. Bommai that Ministers from here were not welcome to Belgaum there,” he said.Appointed by the State Government to coordinate with the legal team regarding the court case on the border row between Maharashtra and Karnataka, Mr. Patil and Mr. Desai are scheduled to visit Belgaum on December 6 on the occasion of Mahaparinirvan Diwas, the death anniversary of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, to hold talks with the activists of Madhyavarti Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti.

Meanwhile, Ashish Shelar, BJP's Mumbai unit chief, on Saturday criticised Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai (also of BJP) for his request to Maharashtra ministers Chandakant Patil and Shambhuraje Desai not to visit Belgaum as planned on December 6. Bommai may have made the statement in the interest of maintaining harmony, but no one can prevent anyone from visiting any part of the country," said Shelar. He added that any aggression from Karnataka would get a fitting reply. The Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute, which is in the Supreme Court, flared up on November 25 after Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai laid claim to 40 villages on the border.