BELAGAVI: Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) has decided to go ahead with Mahamelava despite Union Home Minister Amit Shah asking chief ministers of Karnataka and Maharashtra to wait for the Supreme Court verdict on border dispute. A pro-Maharashtra session in Belagavi, which will run simultaneously with the winter session of the Assembly, will demand the merger of several areas of Karnataka with Maharashtra.
The objective of the parallel session of the MES, to be held on the inaugural day of the winter session, is to pass a resolution demanding the merger of several areas of Karnataka on the border including Belagavi, Nipani, Khanapur, Bidar and Bhalki with Maharashtra.
“We are firm on holding the Mahamelava on December 19 in Belagavi. Why should not we hold the parallel session when Karnataka is conducting a 10-day winter session in Belagavi,” said a top MES leader and former MLA Manohar Kinekar.
If holding the parallel session amounts to contempt of court, so will be the winter session, he said, adding that the points made Shah during the meeting in New Delhi did not help clarity on the border dispute.
“We have already invited all the top leaders of Maharashtra for the Mahamelava. If the status quo has to be maintained by both sides as told by Shah, both the states should have adhered to it from 2004 when the Supreme Court was moved in connection with the border dispute,’’ said Kinekar.
A noted Kannada activist Ashok Chandargi said that as per the terms accepted by both sides, none of the Maharashtra leaders should attend the anti-Karnataka events to be organised on the border including the parallel session by MES on December 19.
However, the state government is yet to give permission to the MES to hold the parallel session, which is scheduled to be held at Vaccine Depot, Tilakwadi. The MES leaders are confident that they will hold the session regardless of the attendance of Maharashtra top leaders.