On November 28, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that Karnataka is all set for a legal battle over the border issue with Maharashtra.
Bommai on Novemeber 27 chaired a meeting with senior advocates and officials ahead of the hearing of the border dispute case before the Supreme Court on November 30.
“The petition filed by the state of Maharashtra in regard to the border issue did not have any legal provision since it was filed on the basis of the State Reorganisation Act and Article 3 (formation of new states and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing states) of the Constitution,” Bommai said.
A team of well-learned counsels, led by Mukul Rohtagi and Uday Holla, will present the case, he added.
Earlier, CM Bommai said that some villages, reeling from a water crisis, in Maharashtra’s Sangli district passed a resolution to merge with Karnataka.
No village has sought a merger with Karnataka recently, and there is no question of any border village going anywhere, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis said on Novemeber 23 while responding to the media persons on CM Bommai’s remarks.
“Not even a single village in Maharashtra will go to Karnataka! The state government will fight strongly in the Supreme Court to get Marathi-speaking villages including Belgaum-Karwar-Nipani,” Fadnavis tweeted on November 23.
CM Bommai responded to Fadnavis in a series of tweets and labelled the Maharashtra Deputy CM’s statements provocative.
“Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has made a provocative statement on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border issue and his dream will never come true. Our government is committed to protecting the state’s land, water and borders,” Bommai tweeted November 23.
“There is no question of giving up any space in the border districts of Karnataka. Our demand is that the Kannada-speaking areas of Maharashtra like Sollapur and Akkalakote should join Karnataka,” the Karnataka CM further said.
Bommai will visit New Delhi to meet BJP president J P Nadda on Tuesday and will have discussions with a senior advocate Mukul Rohatg regarding the legal battle with Maharashtra over border dispute.
