Amid the raging Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary dispute, Higher Education Minister Chandrakant Patil and Maharashtra Excise Minister Shambhuraj Desai would be visiting Belagavi (Belgaum) in order to speak to the Marathi-speaking people in the border district.
While Patil is a senior BJP leader and former state President, Desai is a senior Shiv Sena leader from Shinde-camp.
Initially they were going to travel on December 3, however now they would be going on December 6, which is also the Mahaparinirvan Diwas, the death anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Constitution.
“We would be going on 6 December,” said Patil, adding that some organisations urged them to be present on Mahaparinirvan Diwas.
The two ministers have been assigned as the coordinating ministers on the ongoing issue in a meeting led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and attended by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis among others.
Chandrakant Patil had handled a similar assignment when the BJP-Shiv Sena government was in power from 2014-19.
Maharashtra claims 814 villages along the borders in Belgaum, Karwar, Nipani, Bidar in Karnataka and wants them to be included in the state - as a large population in this region speaks Marathi.
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