BELAGAVI: With two Maharashtra ministers all set to visit Belagavi on December 6 to hold talks with pro-Maharashtra groups and attend several programmes, several Kannada organisations have urged the Karnataka government not to allow the duo, especially at a time when the border dispute between the two states has flared up again. Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai are scheduled
to attend a series of programmes in Belagavi on the invitation of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES).
With the border dispute case between the two states set to come up for hearing in the Supreme Court, the Maharashtra government has been initiating several measures to bolster its stand in the apex court. As part of it, sources said, two of its ministers will be visiting Belagavi to meet pro-Maharashtra groups and leaders besides attending several other programmes.
Though the duo were initially scheduled to visit Belagavi on December 3, Chandrakant Patil said the visit has been pushed to December 6. “On the occasion of Mahaparinirvana Divas to be observed on December 6, some organisations in Belagavi have invited me for their programmes in Belagavi. So, Instead of December 3, I will be visiting Belagavi along with Shambhuraj Desai on December 6,” Patil tweeted.
Meanwhile, several Kannada organisations have warned the Karnataka government against allowing the two ministers into Belagavi to hold events at a time when the tensions are escalating on the border. Some Kannada leaders have threatened to enter the venues of the events if the ministers are allowed to enter Belagavi.
Chairman of the Action Committee of Kannada Organisations, Belagavi, Ashok Chandargi has questioned the need for the Karnataka government to allow the two ministers into the state at a time when the tensions are escalating on the border. Police sources said that after the Maharashtra government sent an official note of the itinerary of the two ministers in Belagavi, the State Government has decided to extend Y security to both of them during their stay here.