The Assembly passed a resolution on Monday condemning incidents that have kept Belagavi tense, with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai firing a salvo at Maharashtra that his government will support any demand by Kannada-speaking areas of the neighbouring state to join Karnataka.
The resolution, which Bommai moved and was passed unanimously, also says sedition cases will be booked against those involved in the defacing of Shivaji and Sangolli Rayanna statues. The resolution will be sent to the Centre.
“There's no question of compromise or negotiation,” Bommai told the Assembly. “Not an inch of our land will we cede. Our government is ready to provide protection to Kannadigas in Maharashtra and support them if they want their areas to join Karnataka,” he said.
Bommai cited the example of the Jath taluk in Maharashtra’s Sangli district. “This is a drought-prone area where Kannadigas live. Some 40-gram panchayats there have passed a resolution that they want to join Karnataka as Maharashtra has done little for them in terms of development,” he said.
At least 26 people have been arrested in connection with the vandalism of Rayanna’s statue. “We have also arrested people who defaced the Shivaji statue,” he said, adding that both acts were pre-planned. “This time, we won’t simply arrest and release them on bail. We'll do a comprehensive investigation to identify the real conspirators,” he said.
Apart from sedition cases, the accused will also be booked under the Goonda Act, the CM said.
Bommai said he will talk to his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray. “Already, home secretaries and DGPs of both states are talking, especially on the burning of the Kannada flag in Maharashtra,” he said.
Addressing citizens in Maharashtra, Bommai said there is no problem between the people of both states. “There are some goons and political forces [in Maharashtra] who want to keep the issue alive as the border dispute is pending in the Supreme Court,” he said.
MLAs across the board demanded a ban on the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES). “We will examine this legally. Even if we can’t ban MES, we will take steps to regulate them,” Bommai said.
The Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi will get statues of Rani Chennamma and Rayanna to immortalize their achievements, Bommai announced.
Earlier, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah said disrespecting Shivaji and Rayanna statues was an “insult”. JD(S) MLAs wore Kannada shawls and demanded action against "MES goons".