Belagavi: Amidst the Karnataka-Maharashtra border row, Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi slammed the Maharashtra government for making provocative statements on the issue and demanded that Mumbai be turned into a Union Territory.
Addressing the media on Wednesday in Borgaon near Nipani of the Belagavi district, Savadi said that the Union Government should make Mumbai a Union Territory and then merged with Karnataka as it once formed a part of the Bombay-Karnataka region, giving Karnataka the right to lay claim to the city.
Savadi’s statement came hours after Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the disputed regions on the two state’s border be turned into a Union Territory till they are merged with Maharashtra after the dispute is resolved by the Supreme Court.
Speaking further, the DCM said that there is a need to “close” the chapter of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) in Belagavi. He added that the BJP plans to induct all the MES leaders and field MES leader Aravind Patil of Khanapur as a BJP candidate in the next Assembly election.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra slammed Savadi for his demand to make Mumbai a UT. The Maharashtra Congress termed his statement as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) “sinister design” to weaken the state.
