JOIN US Activists of Kannada organisations announced that they would ‘gherao’ Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during his visit to the City on Sunday, for ‘neglecting’ the welfare of Kanndigas in border areas.
Belagavi district Kannada Organisations Action Committee President Ashok Chandargi told reporters here on Saturday that the chief minister had been deliberately neglecting the demands of the Kannadigas in the border district.
He said that they have been demanding setting up of a political affairs committee headed by senior Cabinet minister H K Patil or others who have thorough knowledge of the boundary row with Maharashtra; establishment of border cells in 865 villages spread over five districts claimed by Maharashtra and to provide necessary infrastructure to Karnataka Border Protection Commission headed by Justice V S Malimath. However, the government is yet to meet these demands, he added.
“The chief minister had promised to meet the demands in August. However, he has not kept up his words. Kannada activists would gherao the chief minister and question him about the commitment of the government in protecting the interests of the State” Chandargi said.
Maharashtra government has appointed Public Works Department and Textiles Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader from neighbouring Kolhapur district, Chandrakant Patil, as nodal minister to give a boost to its ‘Belagavi Movement’.
Patil has earlier participated in the boundary agitations and was expected to create more trouble in the coming days due his involvement with the issue, Chandargi said.