Centre must resolve border row: Joshi

By Our Staff Correspondent

BELGAUM, FEB. 16. The Shiv Sena will be taking up with the Union Government the border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra, Mr. Manohar Joshi, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, has said.

Addressing presspersons here on Friday, he vowed to resolve the dispute and claimed that Belgaum, Nippani, Khanapur and two other areas on the border were part of Maharashtra.

He said the Mahajan Commission which went into the border dispute had done injustice to Maharashtra as it failed to take into consideration certain issues.

Asked whether fresh efforts to resolve the dispute would be on the basis of the situation at present, in which a reference to the Marathi population in the ``disputed'' areas could not be made to Maharashtra's advantage, Mr. Joshi said the basis of the problem was well-known. When the Mahajan Commission was appointed to go into the dispute, the number of Marathis in those areas, including Belgaum city, was higher than that of Kannadigas. No other linguistic community formed a majority, he added.

``I am fully convinced that the demand of Maharashtra is justified. Our fight is not against Karnataka or its people, but with the Centre,'' he said.

When reminded that it was Maharashtra which demanded the appointment of a commission, and that its former Chief Minister, Mr. Sudhakar Naik, had welcomed the Mahajan Commission's recommendations initially, he said: ``That was a mistake.''

On the suggestion of the local unit of the Shiv Sena to approach the Supreme Court, he said such a step could not be taken since Maharashtra would be left with no option but to accept the court verdict which might or might not be in the interest of the State. The Marathis should support the Shiv Sena which had been fighting for the cause of Marathis, he added.

Asked how the Shiv Sena would resolve the dispute, he said the party had taken the initiative. ``If the people in the border areas come under the party banner, we will take up the issue on priority. Our leader, Mr. Bal Thackeray, will chalk out a strategy and pursue a solution. If they don't, then we have no business to do anything in this regard as that would mean that they have no faith in us,'' Mr. Joshi said.

He denied that the Shiv Sena's concern for the Marathis in the border areas of Karnataka was politically motivated. The party had led the Marathi Movement in Maharashtra and outside the State, and had concern for problems of the Marathis, he said. Mr. Joshi said the party would take up the matter in Parliament, and convince members of both the Houses and also the Centre of the need for finding an amicable solution. There could be some ``adjustments'' to resolve the dispute. On its part, the Shiv Sena would mobilise Marathis through an agitation under the direction of Mr. Thackeray. On whether Maharashtra was prepared to forgo the claim on Belgaum city, he said the resolution adopted by the Maharashtra Government should be implemented. ``In my first-ever speech in Parliament, I have made our party's stand on this aspect very clear,'' he added.

Mr. Joshi said there was no possibility of Shiv Sena leaders meeting the Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna, to find a solution. They would rather approach the Centre. ``I want the Centre to take up the matter seriously,'' he added.

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Section  : Southern States
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