Karnataka Ministers call for peace, urge unity amid border dispute with Maharashtra

Bengaluru: Karnataka Ministers on Sunday urged citizens to maintain peace in Belagavi as tensions over the border dispute resurfaced.

Amid the ongoing language-related controversy, the state Ministers called on the public to prevent miscreants from escalating tensions in both Karnataka and Maharashtra.

"Kannadigas and Marathis are living harmoniously. Why are you unnecessarily trying to disturb it? I am appealing to the people to stop inciting," Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil told reporters.

He assured that the government would take all necessary steps to resolve the issue and warned of strict action against those causing disturbances.

State Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa asked people from both sides to remember that they are all fellow Indians, emphasising the importance of unity amidst the border dispute.

Terming the development as "very unfortunate", he said, "We should never forget that we are all Indians." He denounced the tendency to rake up the issued which is long settled.

The decades old dispute resurfaced on Friday when a bus driver and a conductor were beaten up for allegedly not speaking in Marathi at Marihal in Belagavi.