Bengaluru: Amid the raging Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute, former MLA and president of the Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha, Vatal Nagaraj and Kannada activist Ashoka Chandragi on Wednesday asked Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to boycott the scheduled meeting with union Home minister Amit Shah in Delhi.
Shah has a scheduled meeting with Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and Karnataka, to discuss the raging border dispute between the two states. In a letter to Shah, Chandragi, who is the president of the Action committee of Belgaum Kannada organizations said that for the last 67 years, Maharashtra “has been trying to keep the border dispute alive”.
“The meeting led by Union Home Minister Amit Shah naturally created anxiety. Fazal Ali Commission of 1956, Mahajana Commission of 1967 have submitted their final report. The Karnataka government has passed resolutions in the Assembly several times. However, since 2004, Maharashtra has been insisting that 865 cities and towns of Karnataka should join them. Apart from that, the Maharashtra government filed a case in the Supreme Court in 2004,” he said.
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Chandragi said that “yielding to the pressure of Maharashtra, the Central Government has put pressure on the state leaders many times”. “On the instructions of the Union Home Minister, YB Chavan, who was the Maharashtra CM, held talks with BD Jatti, who was then the CM of Karnataka...Jatti had retorted to YB Chavan, then CM of Maharashtra government,” he added.
Chandragi said that Maharashtra leaders had later started putting pressure on Indira Gandhi and Ninjalingappa, the then CM, to agree to the formation of the Mahajan Commission. “Mahajan Commission was appointed by Indira Gandhi after giving in to pressure from Maharashtra. Fasal Ali wrote in the letter that despite the Mahajan Commission reports coming in favor of Karnataka, Maharashtra continued to be obstinate,” Chandragi alleged.
He said the discussion should be held in the framework of the resolution passed in the assembly. “CM Bommai should not succumb to any machinations of Maharashtra,” Chandragi said adding “we believe your statement that there is no compromise in safeguarding the interests of Kannadigas”.
Vatal Nagaraj, President of Kannada Chalavali Vatal Party too urged CM Bommai to boycott the meeting. “There is no need for our CM to go to Amit Shah's meeting. There is no compromise on the border issue. Compromise is over. After Mahajan's report, it was all over. Maharashtra leaders Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena, NCP, Shinde, Pawar are blaming Karnataka for their politics,” said Vatal.
Bommai is travelling to the national capital on Wednesday to attend the meeting called by Shah with Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and Karnataka, to discuss the raging border dispute between the two states.
