Uddhav Thackeray to release book on Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray will release a book explaining his government’s stand on the border dispute with Karnataka on Wednesday as the ruling Shiv Sena appears to be reviving its decades-old agenda of merging Marathi-speaking areas in the neighbouring state with Maharashtra.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat and opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis will attend the book release function.

Maharashtra government’s officer on special duty Deepak Pawar has edited the Marathi book titled Maharashtra Karnataka Simawad: Sangharsh Ani Sankalp (Maharashtra-Karnataka Border Dispute: Struggle and Resolve).

A meeting of a high-power committee reconstituted to take state’s legal battle on the border issue forward will follow the book release.

Maharastra’s ruling Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress alliance has been keen to take up the issue. Deputy chief minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar in November said Shiv Sena founder late Balasaheb Thackeray struggled his entire life for the state’s overall development and to unite Maharashtra by merging Belgaum, Karwar and Nipani with the state. “Let us be determined to fulfil this dream.”

Thackeray spoke about the issue on January 17 at an event organised by Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti, which has been fighting for the inclusion of Marathi-speaking areas in Maharashtra. “Including Karnataka-occupied Marathi speaking and cultural areas in Maharashtra will be the true tribute to those who were martyred in the boundary dispute. We are united and committed towards it,” Thackeray tweeted from his official handle.

An NCP leader said Bal Thackeray and other senior leaders were jailed in 1969 over the border dispute and the agitation by Shiv Sena over it shut Mumbai for over a week. “Though many believe it is an unresolvable issue, the parties see political gain in keeping the issue sentimentally alive. For the ruling parties in Maharashtra, the issue is convenient to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules Karnataka and to revive Marathi pride ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections.”