Bengaluru, Dec 2 () Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Friday it is not appropriate for the ministers of Maharashtra to visit Belagavi, the bordering district of the state amid the tension between the two states.
“The Principal Secretary has sent a fax to the Maharashtra Principal Secretary stating that they (Maharashtra ministers) should not come to Belagavi. Their visit is not appropriate,” Bommai said.
Reacting to Maharashtra ministers’ plan to visit Belagavi on December 3, he stated that he would initiate action the way it was done in the past.
He stated that the Kannada people of Jath taluka are suffering without water facilities for a long period. “Now, Maharashtra has announced the water project. Let the water reach the region and put an end to hardship of the people,” Bommai stated.
Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), a political outfit in Karnataka, waging a battle for the unification of Belagavi with Maharashtra, has shot a letter inviting Maharashtra ministers to Belagavi city.
The move had triggered a row and Kannada organisations have responded sharply to the development.
The request has been made to the coordinating ministers appointed by the coalition government of BJP and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai.
The submission says that discussion is needed with MES regarding the border dispute.
Both the ministers have responded positively on social media accounts to the submission and assured that they would visit Belagavi city on December 3.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, a Kannada outfit, had warned the state government that they would teach a lesson if Maharashtra ministers are let into the Karnataka territory.
mka/pgh