Uddhav must apologise for Belagavi remark: H K Patil

Former minister H K Patil on Wednesday asked Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to withdraw the latter's ‘Belagavi, Nippani and Karwar are Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra regions’ remark and asked him to apologise for the statement.

"Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary dispute is a closed chapter, but Uddhav irresponsibly raised this issue again due to political reasons. Unfortunately, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and his Cabinet colleagues did not react to this issue," he lamented.

'Javadekar's letter a deception'

Patil also opined that Union Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change Prakash Javadekar’s letter to Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai over Mahadayi issue was a deception.

“Instead of withdrawing the December 18 letter which mentioned the suspension of forest clearance for Kalasa-Banduri project, Javadekar now made a deceptive statement that the project can be implemented after Mahadayi Tribunal’s verdict is gazetted, and after obtaining necessary forest and wildlife permissions,” he said.

The Union government is frequently changing its stand over the forest clearance, while it is also not responding to the demand to notify Mahadayi Tribunal’s verdict in the Central Gazette. The state government should wake up from the slumber, and should make serious efforts to implement the Kalasa-Banduri project, Patil noted.

‘Withhold CAA’

Patil also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withhold the CAA, and to call a meeting of all political parties, representatives of organisations opposing the CAA, and those hurt due to this law.

Such Acts on national issues should be enacted with total consensus and not just with a majority in the Parliament, Congress MLA from Gadag added.

The state government itself releasing CCTV footage of Mangaluru violence is a wrong move, as it would be provocative. An independent judicial inquiry should be conducted, and that investigative agency has to verify the footages, he said.