BELAGAVI: To counter the Uddhav Thackeray government which has raked up the boundary dispute by demanding the merger of several areas of Karnataka with Maharashtra, Kannada organisations and leaders have appealed to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to immediately name a minister for the boundary dispute besides filing a case of contempt of court in the Supreme Court against Maharashtra.
After Uddhav Thackeray resorted to an anti-Karnataka tweet and the release of a book on the boundary dispute, noted Marathi daily Saamna, a Shiv Sena mouthpiece, targeted the Karnataka government in Friday's edition, slamming Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi for his statement demanding the merger of Mumbai with Karnataka.
In its editorial, the daily called him 'mad' for demanding Mumbai and said the DCM must try to know the history of border areas and the struggle for unification of different areas before issuing statements on sensitive issues.
Reacting to Maharashtra's continued activities against the larger interest of Karnataka, Ashok Chandargi, chairman of Action Committee of Kannada Organisations, said, "Given the way Maharashtra is issuing statements about the boundary dispute which is pending before the Supreme Court, the state government must file a contempt petition in the apex court." He also appealed to the government to consult legal experts to expedite the process of filing the case.
Chandargi also wrote a letter to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa urging him to name Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai as the minister for the boundary dispute as he was well versed with the issue.
Several experts including advocate Ravindra Totiger have already suggested that the government bolster its legal teams in New Delhi to take up the boundary dispute case in court effectively. They want the CM to take the case in court seriously as the Maharashtra government has already initiated several stringent measures to fight the case.
Meanwhile, sources said the Shiv Sena, headed by Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, is upset over the absence of BJP leaders, mainly former CM Devendra Fadnavis, at the release of a book on the boundary dispute in Mumbai on Wednesday. "Thackeray actually wanted to send a strong message to Karnataka by showing that all parties and leaders in Maharashtra are united in demanding the merger of Belagavi in Maharashtra. Thackeray and the Shiv Sena failed in their objective as none of the BJP leaders turned up for the book release," said a source.
Even after DCM Savadi's demand for the merger of Mumbai with Karnataka provoked leaders of the Shiv Sena in Mumbai, none of the BJP leaders from Maharashtra reacted to it.