State border issue: Marathi posters put on NWKRTC buses

Posters in Marathi were pasted on the rear of some buses that were on their way back to Karnataka on Friday

A section of buses of North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), plying between the state and Maharashtra, were pasted with posters supporting the merger of Belagavi, Karwar, Nippani, and other boundary areas of the state with Maharashtra.

Bearing the name of Nationalist Congress Party leader Praveen Deshmukh from Pune, posters in Marathi were pasted on the rear of some buses that were on their way back to Karnataka in the early hours of Friday.

Read | Maharashtra re-releases documentary detailing Marathi culture in Karnataka

Karnataka-Maharashtra boundary dispute has flared up after Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on January 17, during an event related to the long-standing border issue, tweeted deeming Marathi-speaking boundary areas of the state as Karnataka-Occupied Maharashtra. He said the government would make efforts to get them back. A book regarding the boundary row was released recently, along with a black and white documentary on the dispute in English, which was rereleased on Thursday on social media.

NWKRTC Belagavi Divisional Controller M R Munji said that no buses from the division have boundary-dispute related posters, but have been informed that some buses of other divisions have been pasted with them. "We shall know more details after talks with the officials from the concerned divisions," he said.