Karnataka-Maharashtra Border Row: MES, NCP Leaders Protest At Kognoli Toll Escalates; Section 144 Imposed | WATCH

The dispute relates to Maharashtra's claim on Belagavi and some other border areas in the southern state which have sizable Marathi-speaking population.

Belagavi: Tensions seethed at Karnataka –Maharashtra border as members of Maharashtra Ekikarana Samiti (MES) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) staged a protest at Kognoli Toll Plaza near the Karnataka-Maharashtra border over the inter-state border issue. The winter session of the Maharashtra legislature began in Nagpur on Monday and the opposition parties raised the issue of the boundary dispute with Karnataka and condemned the ban imposed on MP Dhairyasheel Mane from entering Belagavi district in the neighbouring state.

WATCH: KARNATAKA-MAHARASHTRA BORDER DISPUTE ESCALATES

News agency, ANI shared a video on their official twitter handle wherein hundreds of people can be seen protesting at the border.

Belagavi, Karnataka | Members of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti and NCP stage protest near Kognoli Toll Plaza near Karnataka-Maharashtra border over inter-state border issue pic.twitter.com/XaPJwEbBKv

— ANI (@ANI) December 19, 2022

MAHARASHTRA-KARNATAKA BORDER DISPUTE TOP POINTS

• Several organisations had sought permission to stage protest during the Assembly session resulting in deployment of heavy police force.
• Some leaders from Maharashtra had wished to participate in the event. A Maharashtra MP Dhairyasheel Mane had even requested the Belagavi district administration to make arrangements for his visit to the city.
• However, the district authorities imposed a ban on his entry saying that his possible inflammatory speech may create law and order problems.

• Around 300 members of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress were stopped while some were detained too according to NDTV report.
• The dispute relates to Maharashtra’s claim on Belagavi and some other border areas in the southern state which have sizable Marathi-speaking population. The MES has been demanding the merger of Belagavi with Maharashtra claiming the district has a substantial Marathi population.
  On the Maharashtra government’s plan to introduce a bill in the legislature to have a Lokayukta law which will also bring the chief minister and ministers under its ambit, Pawar said it will be studied and there is no reason to protest against it if it is in the interest of the people.

Amid fear over the border row with Maharashtra and disruption due to protests by various communities, the entire city resembles a cantonment of sorts. According to police sources, nearly 5,000 policemen have been deployed for maintaining law and order in the city.

This session, which would be the last one of the current Assembly, as the elections are barely four months away