BELAGAVI: Tensions between Karnataka and neighbouring Maharashtra seem to be flaring up again over the border issue with protests on both sides on Sunday, leading to cancellation of bus services between the two states.
Activists of the Shiv Sena launched a violent protest near the Kolhapur bus stand in Maharashtra and burnt an effigy of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday. Later, the mob marched towards Apsara Theatre and forcibly stopped the screening of a Kannada movie. The protesters also tore the movie posters. Some activists also blackened nameboards of shops written in Kannada in some areas including Gandhi Nagar on the outskirts of Kolhapur city.
Former Congress MLA Satej Patil and Shiv Sena MP Dhairyasheel Mane led the protests. Heavy police deployment was witnessed in Kolhapur due to the violence. The agitation was in reaction to a protest by Kannada activists in Belagavi on Saturday, who burnt an effigy of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Also, an alleged statement by a Karnataka Navanirman Sena leader that MES leaders should be shot dead on the border between the two states, has angered the Shiv Sena.
The Kannada activists were angry because the MES recently approached Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray regarding the issue, after which he appointed ministers Chhagan Bhujbal and Eknath Shinde as co-ordinators to oversee his government’s efforts to expedite the case related to the boundary dispute with Karnataka.
The Shiv Sena protest in Kolhapur provoked Kannada activists who too launched a protest against them at Kittur Rani Chennamma Circle in Belagavi on Sunday.The border dispute has been pending before the Supreme Court for long. For decades, the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi has been demanding the merger of Belagavi and other Marathi-speaking areas of Karnataka into Maharashtra. This has led to sharp responses from Kannada activists.