Minister for Fisheries, Science and Technology, Anand Asnotikar on Monday shocked the people of Karnataka by demanding merger of Karwar with Goa if it (Karwar) wanted to develop.
The Minister said the people of Karwar would not get justice in Karnataka, and it was the right time to demand merger of Karwar with Goa.
The Minister’s controversial statement came close on the heels of Agriculture Minister Umesh Katti’s demand for a separate state of North Karnataka.
Katti had said the new state should include Goa and Kolhapur in Maharashtra.
Sources said Asnotikar made the statement as he was having a row with Uttara Kannada District Minister Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri. Asnotikar wanted the government to start a medical college in Karwar, but Kageri was pressuring the state government to shift it to his constituency Sirsi. Uttara Kannada district president of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike Datta told Express that Asnotikar was “playing a dirty game of politics for his selfish gains”.
He said Asnotikar had business interests in Goa and that his wife was from Goa.
Meanwhile, veteran journalist Patil Puttappa said that the boundary issue between Goa and Karnataka was settled a long time ago and the people of Goa, as well as the Marathi and Konkani-speaking people in that region, had not raised any objections to the area’s inclusion in Karnataka.
“Asnotikar lacks knowledge of history and his statements are childish... Let him concentrate on his portfolio. He himself should be blamed for the lack of development of the region,” he said.