Mumbai: A day after MPs from the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) met Union home minister Amit Shah seeking his intervention in the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute, the latter escalated again on Saturday when Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai proclaimed that the meeting with the home minister made no difference and his government would not compromise on the border row.
Bommai called the meeting a “futile attempt”. “The fact that a delegation from Maharashtra is meeting the Union home minister will not make any difference. Maharashtra has tried this in the past too. The case is before the Supreme Court and our legal stand is strong. Our government will not make any compromise on the border issue,” he tweeted. The Karnataka CM said that he had asked his MPs to meet the Union home minister on Monday to convey the state’s legal stand on the border issue.
Former Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said that the prime minister needed to speak out about the dispute and the provocation by the Karnataka CM. “The whole of Maharashtra is looking at you, awaiting your stand on this issue (PM),” he said while addressing a literary conference in Jalna on Saturday.
“As the prime minister, he should also speak when Karnataka is blocking the roads from Maharashtra. He should bring some relief to the state and then inaugurate the expressway constructed in the name of Balasaheb Thackeray,” the Shiv Sena (UBT) supremo remarked, referring to Modi’s Nagpur visit on Sunday to inaugurate Phase I of Mumbai-Nagpur Super Communication Greenfield Expressway.
Leader of the Opposition Ajit Pawar said the Karnataka CM was questioning Shah’s authority. “Amit Shah assured us that he would intervene and call a meeting but the Karnataka CM has said he will not attend. If a chief minister makes such statements, how is the home minister going to resolve the issue?” he asked. Pawar was referring to the meeting with the CMs of both states that was likely to be called by Shah on December 14 to sort out the issue of the violent protests and brewing tension at the border.
“This is nothing but election politics. All this is being done with one eye on the coming Karnataka assembly polls,” Satej Patil, former Congress minister said, pointing out that Bommai was making such statements while himself admitting in his tweet that the matter was before the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Bommai’s remarks have put the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena (BSS) in an awkward situation. Despite the border row being a concern and despite being taunted by the Opposition, they are unable to voice their objections openly since they are in alliance with the BJP.
BSS MLA and water supply and sanitation minister Gulabrao Patil, however, ventured a fairly combative opinion, saying that Modi and Shah would teach Bommai a lesson. “It is wrong on his part to pass such a statement on Amit Shah, as he is the home minister of the country,” he said.
The Maharashtra BJP unit has also taken a careful position on the dispute, saying that provocation from both sides should be stopped. “Nothing makes sense whether it’s what Bommai is saying or what we are saying. The case which is before the Supreme Court should be disposed of immediately, only then will this conflict end permanently,” state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said.
