BELAGAVI: Despite Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai suggesting that Maharashtra ministers should not visit Belagavi at this juncture, Minister Chandrakant Patil from the neighbouring state has insisted he and another colleague will pay a visit on December 6.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had on Friday said that a visit by the Maharashtra minister to Belagavi would not be appropriate now as the border issue between the two states is already before the Supreme Court. He also said that the government has formulated various schemes for those living in the border areas, including providing drinking water and irrigation facilities.
Reacting to the Maharashtra minister’s claims, Legislative Council member Laxman Savadi said the MES has lost its relevance and said Maharashtra ministers should not come to Karnataka to indulge in politics. “Is this their father-in-law’s place”? he retorted.
Maharashtra Minister Chandrakant Patil had declared that he will visit Belagavi and listen to the woes of the people living in the border areas and visit the families of those who died in the struggle.
It may be recalled that the MES, which is in the forefront of the border agitation, was routed in the civic body polls. Maharashtra Eknath Shinde, who took part in the border dispute in 1986, had been jailed at Ballari for 40 days.