Mumbai: As the border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka worsened, the Eknath Shinde government went on the backfoot on Monday, with the visit of ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraje Desai to Belagavi district unlikely to go ahead. The Karnataka government remained combative, with the Belagavi district administration clamping prohibitory orders to prevent the ministers from entering Belagavi city.
Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai warned, “If they (ministers) try to enter the state, officers have been asked to initiate suitable legal action.” Last week, Bommai had asked Maharashtra to cancel the visit in order to maintain interstate harmony. Meanwhile, 10 gram panchayats of Akkalkot tehsil in Solapur district passed resolutions to join Karnataka, and 55 villages in Nashik’s tribal dominated Surgana taluka, which borders Gujarat, also declared their inclination to merge with the neighbouring state.
Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis indicated that there was a rethink on the Belagavi visit. Fadnavis said the timing of the visit on Mahaparinirvan Din, the death anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar, may not be appropriate. “It is an important day and an agitation is not appropriate. We are thinking about this, and CM Shinde will take the final decision,” Fadnavis added. Responding to the opposition’s criticism that the Shinde-Fadnavis government was not taking a tough stand, he said, “We can go there in the future. No one is scared. No one can prevent anyone from going to any part of the country. ”
