The border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka and the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA) continued attempts to corner Chief Minister Eknath Shinde over an alleged scam were the two most important political developments in Maharashtra on Wednesday.
Amid the tension in border areas of the two states, state minister Shambhuraj Desai said if Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai did not stop making “irresponsible comments”, Maharashtra would have to rethink water supply from its dams to the neighbouring state. Desai and his Cabinet colleague Chandrakant Patil are the nodal ministers to coordinate with the state government’s legal team on a court case on the border dispute.
The Karnataka legislature has reiterated the stand that the border issue is a settled one, and not an inch of land will be given to the neighbouring state. On Tuesday, Bommai said during an Assembly debate asserted the stand.
“Even Maharashtra can reply in the same language and he should not provoke us,” Desai told reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan complex in Nagpur, adding that Maharashtra was maintaining patience and the Karnataka CM should keep in mind that the southern state is very much dependent on water supply from the Koyna and Krishna dams during the dry season in March and April.
“If Karnataka does not stop (making such statements), then Maharashtra will have to rethink over the water being supplied to the neighbouring state,” the minister added.
The border dispute is one issue on which both the ruling coalition and the Opposition agree and keeping the issue simmering helps them shore up their credentials among their vote banks. In Delhi, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader and MP Sanjay Raut told reporters, “The way China has invaded (Indian territory), we will do the same in Karnataka. We do not need anyone’s permission to do so.”
Opposition raises ‘NIT scam’ issue
Meanwhile, for the second straight day, the Opposition continued to raise the demand for CM Shinde’s resignation over the alleged Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) scam. After Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar stopped the Opposition from discussing the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) scam as the matter was sub judice, it pointed out that Shinde had been allowed to make a statement on the NIT row even though that matter was also before the judiciary.
The other key developments from the legislature: