Maharashtra asks Centre to reconsider border affidavit

Later, he himself moved the resolution asking the Centre to reconsider its affidavit, which favoured Karnataka’s stand and prayed for the dismissal of Maharashtra's interim application to the main petition.

The Supreme Court, however, did not take cognizance of the Centre's affidavit at this stage and allowed Maharashtra's application to amend its main petition of 2004 and adduce more evidence within four weeks and also directed Karnataka and the Centre to filed their replies in four weeks.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena working president Uddhav Thackeray, too, demanded Union Territory status for the boundary areas and asked the BJP to take a stand on the issue, since the party is in power in Karnataka.

"The disputed area should be declared a Union Territory with immediate effect with the deployment of CRPF to protect the Marathi-speaking people in Karnataka from police excesses," he told reporters in Pune.

But when questioned about the constitutional validity of the Union Territory proposal, Thackeray had no answer and finally lost his poise to state that the boundary areas in Karnataka should be called "Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra," on the lines of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

When asked whether the boundary issue was straining his party's alliance with the BJP in Maharashtra, he said: "Breaking the saffron alliance is not the solution to the problem. But I appeal to the BJP central leadership to advise Karnataka chief minister to observe restraint in dealing with Marathi population in that state." The Maharashtra BJP leaders should also explain their stand on the boundary dispute with Karnataka.

The Sena leader alleged that the Centre had shown "greater sensitivity" towards the “Swatantra Telangana” agitation and was "turning a deaf ear to the desperate cries of Marathis in Karnataka who are being beaten mercilessly by police in that state."