MES men meet Maha minister in border village, raise anti-Karnataka slogans

BELAGAVI: Three days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah advised both the Karnataka and Maharashtra chief ministers that they should await the Supreme Court order on the border issue, a group of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) activists from Belagavi met a Maharashtra minister at a border village on Friday evening.

Maharashtra Excise Minister Shamburaj Shivajiarao Desai was in Shinoli village in Chandagarh taluk of Kolhapur district to campaign for the gram panchayat election. The village is just 15 km from Belagavi. The MES activists raised anti-Karnataka slogans and demanded that Belagavi, Karwar, Nippani, Bidar and Bhalki should be integrated with Maharashtra.

The MES activists raised anti-Karnataka and anti-government slogans.

They also claimed that injustice is being meted out to Marathi-speaking people in Belagavi and raised slogans against the Karnataka government. They petitioned the Maharashtra minister that Marathi-speaking people are not being provided government documents in Marathi. The activists said that the Maharashtra government should set up a helpline and website for the benefit of the Marathi-speaking population in Belagavi district.

The minister said the Maharashtra government has set up a high-level committee including two ministers. “The Maharashtra legislature is meeting in Nagpur after a gap of two years. After the session is over, we will tour the border areas. We have already discussed about what facilities have to be provided to 865 villages”, Desai told the MES activists.