Former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday demanded that the Maharashtra Legislative Council pass a resolution asking the Centre to declare the disputed Maharashtra-Karnataka border region as a central province. Addressing the Legislative Council for the first time since he stepped down as CM in June this year, Thackeray said that a demand must be sent by the House to the Centre to declare the disputed border region as a Union Territory.
“We don’t want a single inch of Karnataka’s land but we want our land back… We should send a demand to the Centre to declare the Karnataka-occupied-Maharashtra a union territory,” the Shiv Sena leader said, urging the House to pass this resolution “today itself” and send it to the Centre.
The former Maharashtra CM’s remarks came as a resolution similar to the one passed by Karnataka was delayed in the Maharashtra Assembly.
Speaking in the Legislative Council today, Thackeray said that the opposition party has presented a proposal regarding the border dispute and that everyone in the House is in agreement on this matter.
“This fight has been going on for almost 56 years. The Marathi language has been rooted in the border since the time when the states were formed based on regional languages. Citizens living there for many years speak the Marathi language. This fight is not political,” Thackeray added.
Earlier today, the Opposition was up in arms against the Chief Minister Eknath Shide-led government over a delay in passing a resolution on the matter in the state Assembly. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the resolution has been delayed because the chief minister had to go to Delhi.
Thackeray’s remarks came amid an intensifying row with bordering Karnataka over the claim to the Belagavi region. Last week, the Karnataka Assembly unanimously passed a resolution stating that the state “will not cede an inch of land” to Maharashtra. Since the passage of the resolution, there have been demands that the Maharashtra Assembly pass a similar resolution to counter Karnataka.
The Belagavi border issue has snowballed into a major political controversy, especially since both states happen to be ruled by the NDA. Accusing the Shinde government in Maharashtra as “weak and incapable”, Sanjay Raut, leader of the Uddhav faction of the Shiv Sena said that they will “enter Karnataka like the Chinese entered India’s borders” and that he needs no permission to do so.
“We believe that the country is one and this matter can be resolved through dialogue. But the Karnataka CM is deliberately adding fuel to the fire. It is because Maharashtra has a weak government in place that refuses to take a stand. If the chief minister and deputy chief minister of the state refuse to take a stand on an issue that has seen the sacrifice of over 100 people, people like Bommai are bound to raise their voices and talk down to us,” Raut said on Wednesday.