Amid the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute, the former state chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday, December 26, demanded the state legislative council to ask the Centre to declare the disputed regions as a central province.
Addressing the Legislative Council for the first time since he stepped down as CM in June this year, Thackeray demanded that the state legislature should unanimously pass a resolution demanding that the Karnataka-occupied Marathi speaking border areas should be declared as Union Territory. The resolution should be passed to the Union government.
"The border dispute is not merely a matter between Marathi and Kannada languages and also for borders but it is also a matter of humanity," he said.
In addition, former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray slammed the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for not taking aggressive stand against Karnataka CM Basavraj Bommai on the border issue.
“This fight has been going on for almost 56 years. The Marathi language has been rooted in the border since the time when the states were formed based on regional languages. Citizens living there for many years speak the Marathi language. This fight is not political,” Thackeray added.
Thackeray’s remarks came during an ongoing intensifying row with bordering Karnataka over the claim to the Belagavi region.
Thackeray questioned the central government's role as "guardian" of both states. "Has the central government acted as guardian? We expect the central government to act as the guardian," he said.
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