Belgaum dispute: Sena wants Maha to approach SC against K'taka

The Shiv Sena today said that the Maharashtra government should approach the Supreme Court and urge it to send a contempt notice to the Karnataka government for its Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's remark about making Belgaum the second capital of the southern state.

The Shiv Sena said Maharashtra and Karnataka were embroiled in a border dispute, centring around Belgaum, in the Supreme Court and Kumaraswamy's remark, reportedly made on July 31, was "like rubbing salt into the wounds of people wanting to be part of Maharashtra".

Maharashtra claims Belgaum, part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency but currently a district of Karnataka, on linguistic grounds.

On July 31, Kumaraswamy had said his government was mulling shifting of its offices to the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belgaum, in an attempt to address allegations of discrimination levelled by the people of north Karnataka.

The Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi (Belgaum), modelled on the lines of the Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat and legislature in Bengaluru, functions only during the winter session of the state legislature and is shut during the rest of the year.

"Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has announced that Belgaum will be made the second capital of the state. This is like rubbing salt into the wounds of people wanting to be a part of Maharashtra," the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

The Sena sought to know how the Kumaraswamy government could take a decision on the disputed area while the matter was sub-judice.

"The Maharashtra government should immediately take cognisance of this matter and lodge a protest with the Supreme Court. The state's lawyer should plead that the SC send a contempt notice to Karnataka government," it said.

The Sena quoted Kumaraswamy as saying, "In order to ensure the development of Belgaum, making it the second capital of Karnataka was under consideration of the government for the last 12 years. This issue is pending since I became the chief minister in 2006. I am seriously considering how to implement the proposal.