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Will call all-party meet on border dispute with Maha, says CM Bommai
Bengaluru: A day before the Supreme Court is set to hear the territorial dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday expressed confidence about a “good outcome” in the legal battle and said an all-party meeting will be called to discuss the merger of villages in the neighbouring state with Karnataka
Bengaluru: A day before the Supreme Court is set to hear the territorial dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday expressed confidence about a “good outcome” in the legal battle and said an all-party meeting will be called to discuss the merger of villages in the neighbouring state with Karnataka.
The border dispute dates back to the 1960s after the reorganisation of states on linguistic lines. Maharashtra laid claim to Belagavi, which was part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency as it has a sizable Marathi-speaking population. It also laid claim to 80 Marathi-speaking villages which are currently part of Karnataka.
The chief minister is in New Delhi to meet senior advocate in the state’s legal panel Mukul Rohatgi, who will represent the Karnataka government in the case before the Supreme Court on November 30.
“I have met Rohatgi on the border dispute, the advocate general has briefed things, I too shared inputs regarding the background on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border issue and we discussed the legal status. He told me that all the preparations have been made for tomorrow,” Bommai said.
He said the important thing is the maintainability of Maharashtra’s case.
“In 2017, the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Deepak Mishra had framed preliminary issues regarding the maintainability of the case, which was challenged by Maharashtra. What should be our objections or arguments to it has been decided, and we are confident that as per the Constitution and the States Reorganisation Act Karnataka’s stand is justified. We are confident of a good outcome,” he added.
“I have also given an explanation from my side on the history of legal fights over this issue. Preparations are underway to present the case in the Supreme Court on November 30. There will be an enquiry on the maintainability of the petition filed by the State of Maharashtra. The former Chief Justice, Justice Deepak Mishra, had raised the issue of maintainability of the petition, and we will oppose that petition. Now, the Maharashtra leaders are showing how serious they are on this issue,” Bommai told reporters.
Talking about residents of more than 40 villages in Maharashtra, bordering Karnataka, wanting to meet him, with a demand to merge their areas with the state, Bommai said any decision on this will be taken only after consulting all political parties in the state and legal experts. “The villagers have been issuing these statements for many years as they haven’t got any basic infrastructure facilities. But the matter is with the Supreme Court and the all-party meeting would be called and legal advice will be sought in this regard... This stand by them (people in border villages) is not new, I too have spoken about it... but the issue is before the Supreme Court, so it has to be decided after consulting all political parties and legal experts,” he said.
On a statement by Congress’s Karnataka leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah asking why the row couldn’t be settled quickly, Bommai said: “When he (Siddaramaiah) was the Chief Minister, a similar resolution was made, why did he not join them then? The question is not that, for joining parts of the other state, things have to be considered in a legal way. I’m a responsible Chief Minister and everything has to be done within the Constitutional and legal framework.”
Asked about the recent incident of stone pelting on buses moving towards Karnataka, the chief minister stated that the state officers have discussed the matter with the Maharashtra home department. “I had asked our Home Secretary and Chief Secretary to speak to their counterparts in Maharashtra to control such things and now it has been controlled to an extent,” he said.
