BELAGAVI: Amid the ongoing border row between Karnataka and Maharashtra, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said that Marathi-speaking people in Belagavi are being harassed and demanded that an all-party delegation from Maharashtra visit the city to resolve the stand-off.
“If nobody listens to the grievances of Marathi-speaking population in Belagavi, the Maharashtra government will gather full force and take a delegation to the city. When the situation goes out of control, do not hold the Maharashtra government or Shiv Sena responsible. Do not run to Delhi for a solution,” he warned the Karnataka government.
On Thursday’s attack on Sena leader Prakash Shirolkar in Belagavi, Raut said party workers in Belagavi are under attack and the situation may worsen if this incident is ignored. He blamed Kannada Rakshana Vedike for the attack. Blaming the Centre, he said it can see violence in West Bengal and places where BJP is contesting elections, but “turning a blind eye” to the developments in Belagavi. He demanded that the Centre resolve the row.
Tensions have been on the rise over the last couple of days. A day after the Marathi name board of the car owned by Shirolkar was blackened in Belagavi, Sena workers allegedly stopped lorries with Karnataka registration plates on NH 4 near Kagal in Maharashtra on Saturday. They blackened Kannada boards of shops at Kolhapur. A few KSRTC buses were damaged and their name boards blackened.
KSRTC suspends Maha ops
The KSRTC temporarily suspended its operations to Maharashtra. Divisional Controller, Belagavi depot, MR Munji said, “97 buses ply to Kolhapur and other towns in Maharashtra each day. Vehicles coming from Maharashtra are also stopped from entering Belagavi,” he said.