BELAGAVI: The Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) and the Shiv Sena have decided to hold a protest at the premises of Belagavi City Corporation (BCC) on Thursday, demanding the immediate removal of a Kannada flag and flagpole erected there.Besides activists from various pro-Maharashtra outfits from the Belagavi region, a large number of Shiv Sena activists from Kolhapur are expected to take part in the protest.
Shiv Sena Kolhapur district president Vijay Devane in a video release said the Kannada flag pole in front of BCC should be removed before January 20 or else they will support the MES protest in Belagavi.
Hitting out at the Marathi groups, pro-Kannada organisations have warned that the Shiv Sena workers would not be allowed to enter Karnataka.In a memorandum to the district administration, MES leaders had set January 20 as the deadline for the removal of the flag, failing which they said they would stage a protest on Thursday.
The hoisting of a Kannada flag by a group of activists in front of the corporation a few weeks ago has triggered protests by pro-Maharashtra groups which are demanding its removal. For many decades, since the reorganisation of states, a Marathi saffron flag was being hoisted by MES atop the Belagavi City Corporation. However, the government did not allow flags to be raised on the new corporation building after the office was shifted.
In their attempts to get the flag removed, MES leaders claimed that no state flags were allowed to be raised at the government offices as per the Constitution. The MES had conducted preparatory meetings for the rally on Tuesday and Wednesday.