Karnataka Dy CM dares Congress to break ties with Sena amid Maha CM's border areas promise

Weighing in on the Maharashtra CM's statement on the border areas, Karnataka Deputy CM Dr.Ashwathnarayan on Monday dared Congress to break ties with Shiv Sena. Paying tribute to the people who laid down their lives for the cause of merging Karnataka's border areas with Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray on January 17 reiterated his government's commitment to bring back "Karnataka-occupied Marathi speaking and cultural areas". Interestingly, the Karnataka unit of Congress has castigated Thackeray despite the fact that the Sonia Gandhi-led party is a key constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra. 

The Karnataka Deputy CM advised the Sena supremo to avoid making such statements that create tensions among people. Maintaining that a party like Shiv Sena deserves to be shown its place, he opined that Congress should withdraw support from the MVA. Earlier in the day, senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah urged Thackeray to act in a responsible manner and asserted that the people of Karnataka will never compromise or politicize on matters related to land, water and language of the state. 

The dispute over border areas

There has been a longstanding dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka over the status of predominantly Marathi-speaking regions such as Belagavi. Speaking in the Maharashtra Assembly on December 20, 2019, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray re-ignited the tensions as he referred to these areas as 'Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra'. Moreover, he accused the BJP government in Karnataka of oppressing the Marathi-speaking people. 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray remarked, "Like PoK, there is a Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra. People in Belagavi are not only Hindus but also Marathi-speaking people and wanted to be part of Maharashtra. However, they are facing oppression from the BJP-led government in Karnataka. Even for speaking the truth, the Belagavi mayor was booked for treason."

Read: Congress Warns Shiv Sena Over Remark On UPA: 'Being In MVA Govt Not A Priority For Us'

Congress' disgruntlement in Maharashtra

Despite winning a comfortable majority of its own in the 2019 Assembly election, NDA could not form the government in 2019 over Shiv Sena's demand for the rotational CM post. After the imposition of the President's Rule in the State, BJP took a surprising step of joining hands with NCP's Ajit Pawar, who had reportedly promised the support of other legislators. However, the new Fadnavis-led government had to resign ahead of the SC-mandated floor test owing to the paucity of numbers. Subsequently, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray took oath as the CM of Maharashtra backed by new allies NCP and Congress on November 28, 2019.

In the last few months, multiple Congress leaders including Balasaheb Thorat have expressed their concerns over their party being neglected in the coalition government. In May 2020, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had publicly stated that Congress was not the key decision-maker in Maharashtra. Recently, Congress has locked horns with Shiv Sena over its suggestion that Sharad Pawar should replace Sonia Gandhi as UPA chairperson and the demand to rename Aurangabad. On multiple occasions, Congress has made it clear that it would not hesitate to quit the Maharashtra government if anyone speaks against its leadership. 

Read: Maharashtra Congress Gen Secy Asks Sonia Gandhi To Reconsider Party's Position Within MVA