Karnataka CM’s statement should not be taken seriously: Maharashtra govt

A day after Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said his government is “seriously considering" laying a claim on the Jath tehsil, the Maharashtra government on Wednesday said that the statement should not be taken seriously.

Jath (or Jat) is located in Miraj sub-division of Sangli district that borders Karnataka.

Maharashtra claims 814 villages, along the borders, as well as Belgaum, Karwar, Nipani, Bidar and wants them to be included in the state as a large population here speaks Marathi.

The long-pending and vexing Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary dispute seems to be heading for a flashpoint, given the developments over the past few days.

The matter is pending before the Supreme Court.

Bommai’s statement had come a day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde chaired a meeting of the high-powered committee, wherein it was decided to take the state’s delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The state government also appointed two senior ministers—Higher Education Minister Chandrakant Patil and State Excise Minister Shambhuraj Desai—for coordinating on issues related to the dispute.

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"The statement (of the Karnataka Chief Minister) should not be taken seriously," Desai told reporters on Wednesday.

"The new government is in place for the last five months…there has been no such demand from the locals of Jath," Desai said, adding that if in the last five to 10 years there had been a demand, the Sangli District Collector would surely have had sent a report to the Maharashtra government.

“We will look at the details,” he said, adding that he had Higher Edcuation Minister Patil speak to people in Jath. "If need be, we would visit the place, have a meeting of public representatives,” he said, adding that the matter is being heard in the Supreme Court.

Desai also said that in the meeting of the committee in which Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Leader of Opposition in Council Ambadas Danve, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan among others were present, the view was unanimous. “Today we have a Chief Minister (Shinde) who is serious on the issue of Marathi-speaking people staying in Karnataka…he is the only Chief Minister who had once been in jail for 40 days in Karnataka while raising the issue of Marathi-speaking people,” he said.

Meanwhile, BJP MP from Sangli Sanjaykaka Patil said that he had spoken to Fadnavis over the issue. “As claimed by Karnataka Chief Minister about 40 villages, it is not reality….there had been 18 to 19 resolutions but the (current) statement is politically motivated,” he said.

Shiv Sena chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said that there have been attempts to divide Maharashtra into different parts.

“What Karnataka Chief Minister is saying is a matter of 2016…it’s an old matter,” said state NCP President and former Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil. “I myself had gone to Bengaluru and discussed the issue of water,” he said.