Devendra Fadnavis said the Maharashtra government would initiate a special programme to develop villages located along the border.
The winter session of the Maharashtra Legislature started on 19 December at Vidhan Bhavan. (CMO Maharashtra/Twitter)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday, 19 December, said in the Assembly that the state should stand firmly behind people in the Marathi-speaking areas of neighbouring Karnataka and appealed to political parties not to behave in a way that would hurt them.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the state government will initiate a special programme for the development of villages located along the border and resolve their pending issues.
Raising the issue in the Assembly on the first day of the state legislature’s winter session in Nagpur, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar said that Shiv Sena MP Dhairyasheel Mane (of the Shinde faction) was stopped from entering Belagavi in Karnataka, despite the intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the border dispute.
Mane was recently appointed the chief of an expert committee formed by the Maharashtra government regarding a writ petition in the Supreme Court on the border dispute with Karnataka.
He requested the Belagavi administration to make arrangements for his visit to the city.
However, the district authorities banned his entry, saying that a “possible inflammatory speech” by him might create law-and-order problems.
“When it was decided before Amit Shah ji that they (the people) will not be stopped, how can a district collector stop the MP (Mane) from entering there? We should not tolerate this high-handedness. The chief minister and deputy chief minister should take a firm stand. When Bommai had accepted it, then the collector did not listen to Bommai,” Pawar said.
Responding to it, Shinde said that there can be no dispute over the fact that the issue raised by Pawar was important in terms of Maharashtra.
“For the first time, the Union home minister intervened in the matter and mediated. He called a meeting and this happened for the first time. He has taken the matter seriously,” the chief minister said.
सीमा भागातील आमच्या मराठी बांधवांशी राज्य सरकार ठामपणे उभे आहे.आतापर्यंत केंद्र सरकार या प्रश्नात कधीच हस्तक्षेप करीत नव्हते.पहिल्यांदा मा.केंद्रीय गृहमंत्री अमितभाई शाह यांनी बैठक घेतली आणि दोन्ही बाजू ऐकून घेतल्या.आपले मुख्यमंत्री एकनाथराव शिंदे यांनी अतिशय स्पष्ट भूमिका मांडली pic.twitter.com/APwGEexQ8B
— Devendra Fadnavis (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Dev_Fadnavis) December 19, 2022
“We should stand by the people residing in border areas, back their struggle and act in a way that doesn’t hurt them,” he added.
Shinde said that the state government told the Centre that this issue is related to the self-respect of Maharashtra and that it should take a firm stand in the favour of Maharashtra and people residing in the border areas.
“We said that vehicles from Maharashtra are vandalised and attacked. This is not in sync with law and order and democracy. Such things should not happen because there could be a reaction to an action,” the chief minister said.
The Union home minister also gave instructions that such things should not happen since the matter was before the Supreme Court, Shinde said.
Without naming former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, Shinde said that the previous government had stopped schemes (pertaining to the welfare of people residing in border areas), while his government has resurrected them in four months.
“We have got information from the police regarding which parties are behind the resolution (passed by some border villages of Maharashtra) to merge with neighbouring states. We have all the information,” Shinde said.
He said an irrigation project worth ₹2,000 crore for 48 villages in Jat taluka in Sangli was cleared by the Cabinet on Sunday. Villages in Jat have been facing water problems for decades.
सीमावासियांसाठी गेल्या चार महिन्यात विविध निर्णय घेतले आहेत. कालच ४८ गावांसाठी दोन हजार कोटी रुपयांची योजना मंजूर केली आहे. सीमावासियांच्या पाठीशी आपण सर्वांनी उभे राहिले पाहिजे, असे आवाहन मुख्यमंत्री एकनाथ शिंदे यांनी आज विधानसभेत केले.#विधिमंडळअधिवेशन #नागपूर pic.twitter.com/S7yRqzdUpl
— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) December 19, 2022
In the state Legislative Council, its Leader of the Opposition Ambadas Danve also raised the issue of the simmering border row and condemned the ban imposed by the Belagavi district authorities on Shiv Sena MP Mane.
“Are we living on the India-Pakistan border that such things are happening?” Danve asked. He said that the Maharashtra government should take a strong stand on this issue.
Members of Legislative Council Shashikant Shinde, Abhijeet Wanjari, and Jayant Patil also raised concerns about the Maharashtra leaders not being allowed in Karnataka.
Replying to this, Fadnavis said that the state government will initiate a special programme for the development of villages located along the border and resolve their pending issues.
सीमाभागातील योजना/प्रकल्प विशेषत्वाने हाती घेण्यात येतील. म्हैसाळ योजनेसाठी 2000 कोटी आम्ही मंजूर केले आहेत. इतरही योजनांना गती देण्यात येईल.
(विधानपरिषद | दि. 19 डिसेंबर 2022)#WinterSession #Maharashtra— Devendra Fadnavis (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Dev_Fadnavis) December 19, 2022
He said that the Maharashtra government stands firmly with residents of villages located along the Karnataka border and it was wrong of the neighbouring state to stop the Maharashtra leaders from going there.
The Maharashtra government condemns this and will convey it to the Karnataka government, he said.
For the first time, the Union home minister intervened in this issue and held talks with the chief ministers of both states.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that they do not want to escalate the issue as it is pending before the Supreme Court, Fadnavis noted.
Both the chief ministers said that the escalation of the issue should stop, Fadnavis added and informed that a committee of three ministers from both sides has been formed so that a dialogue can continue for the de-escalation of the dispute.
Talking to reporters at the Vidhan Bhavan, Fadnavis said, “It was decided before the Union home minister that people from both the states will not be stopped from crossing the border and visiting the neighbouring areas.”
“However, the Karnataka government did not allow people from Maharashtra to participate in a local morcha organised democratically. We will also discuss the issue with the Karnataka chief minister,” he said.
LIVE | Media interaction in #VidhanBhavan, Nagpur https://t.co/FA0QsOxHlI
— Devendra Fadnavis (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Dev_Fadnavis) December 19, 2022
Lok Sabha member Mane was supposed to attend the rally organised by the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), but was denied permission to visit Belagavi. The MES has been demanding the merger of Belagavi with Maharashtra, claiming the district has a substantial Marathi population.
When asked about a controversial tweet issued in the name of Bommai a few days ago, Fadnavis said, “The chief minister himself had stated before the Union home minister that it was posted from a fake account. We will also try to find out what action has been taken against such a tweet.”
Shinde, last week, said that tweets in the name of his Karnataka counterpart claiming some areas of Maharashtra were not actually posted by Bommai.
Amit Shah, who met the two chief ministers last week to defuse the border tensions, had said that fake tweets in the name of top leaders also escalated the issue.
(With PTI Inputs)
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