Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister B S Yediyurappa used his reply to the governor’s address in the state’s Assembly today to do some grandstanding on the border dispute with Maharashtra.
The chief minister asserted that “not an inch of land” would be given to Maharashtra, and instead, his government would move five or six departments to the Suvarana Soudha in Belagavi to firm up Karnataka’s claim to the disputed region.
Yediyurappa said, “Maharashtra has often been raising the border issue. However, our government stand is clear that the Mahajan committee report on the border dispute is final. Not an inch land will be given to Maharashtra.”
A good part of the chief minister’s speech went to crowing about the BJP’s victory in the recent byelections. Taking dig at Congress leader Siddaramaiah, Yediyurappa said, “The BJP has won 12 out of 15 seats in the byelections. It shows that the BJP has the blessings of the people. It was a moral victory for our party. Siddaramaiah, let me make it clear to you, that the people of the state are with us. In the last Lok Sabha elections, your party won only one seat and we won 26.”
The chief minister hailed the Supreme Court for dismissing the Goa government’s challenge of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) order. He thanked the court for directing the Centre to issue a notification in this regard.
