Uddhav chairs meet on Maha-Karnataka boundary dispute

The new Maha Vikas Aghadi government on Saturday held its first-ever meeting to resolve the long-pending Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary dispute.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has decided to personally discuss the issue with senior counsel in Supreme Court and noted Constitutional expert Harish Salve.

Thackeray appointed a two-member ministerial team comprising Chhagan Bhujbal of the NCP and Eknath Shinde to coordinate efforts on behalf of the government.

After assuming charge, Thackeray had called a meeting of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti. "Cutting across political lines, we have to come together, put up the case in Supreme Court and resolve the issue by including Marathi-speaking villages into the state," he said.

Among those present in the meeting besides Thackeray, Bhujbal and Shinde are Cabinet ministers Jayant Patil, Subhash Desai and Nitin Raut, Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni among others.

Earlier this week, in his opening address to Maharashtra legislature, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has expressed its commitment to protecting the interests of the Marathi-speaking people along the Maharashtra-Karnataka border.

"My Government re-iterates its commitment to the protection of the constitutional rights and privileges of the Marathi speaking people of 865 villages claimed by the state in relation to Maharashtra-Karnataka border," Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari told the joint session of Maharashtra legislature on Sunday.

Koshyari had said his government will continue to take a firm stand and strive to get justice in the matter pending in the Supreme Court.