Border row: Not to be taken seriously, says Maha minister Desai on Karnataka CM's claims
Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai, on Tuesday, said that the panchayats in Maharashtra's Jat taluka have previously voted a resolution to join with Karnataka during a severe drought and acute drinking water crisis, and his government has devised an initiative to assist them by providing water.
FollowMaharashtra cabinet minister Shambhuraj Desai said Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's remarks on the two states' border issue should not be taken seriously on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the panchayats in Maharashtra's Jat taluka have previously voted a resolution to join with Karnataka during a severe drought and acute drinking water crisis, and his government has devised an initiative to assist them by providing water. He further added the state administration is thinking about it.
Also, the Karnataka CM said that his government has decided to provide special funds to Kannada medium institutions in Maharashtra and pensions to Kannadigas in the neighbouring state who battled for the state's unification.
On Monday, Bommai announced the formation of a formidable legal team to top Supreme Court and Karnataka lawyers to handle the border row matter when it comes before the Supreme Court.
The Maharashtra government designated cabinet members Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai as nodal ministers on Tuesday to communicate with the legal team in the border dispute with Karnataka.
While talking to the media on Wednesday, the Maharashtra minister, Shambhuraj Desai, said that although Maharashtra has reconstituted its team to pursue the Karnataka boundary dispute in the Supreme Court, Bommai has made some absurd old demands. It is not to be taken seriously. The villagers in Jat tehsil (of Sangli district) allegedly approved a resolution more than a decade ago to put pressure on the then-state administration to meet their water supply demand for irrigation from the Krishna river."
However, he asserts there no official record or resolution (of these villages) is accessible to the Maharashtra government, although it was enacted some years ago.
As I know, the Maharashtra government has already approved a proposal to send water for irrigation to the parched districts of Sangli's Jat tehsil. The project will cost roughly Rs 1,200 crore. The project is undergoing technical review. According to Desai, those communities will receive water from Maharashtra.
Since its formation in 1960, Maharashtra has been at odds with Karnataka over the status of the Belgaum (also known as Belagavi) district and 80 other Marathi-speaking villages that are now part of the southern state. Maharashtra has claimed the Marathi-speaking territories, and the case is currently before the Supreme Court.
(With inputs from PTI)
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