The MES and some political outfits in Maharashtra have been pressing for this demand on the ground that the district and a few other neighbouring areas of Karnataka have a substantial Marathi speaking population.
Amid simmering tension at the Karnataka-Maharashtra border, the police on Monday foiled the Madhyavarti Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti's (MMES) mega protest in Belagavi and detained its leaders even as several members from opposition parties from Maharashtra were stopped from crossing the border.
Pawar has summoned a meeting of party leaders in Mumbai on Saturday to finalise its plans for the assembly elections in Karnataka scheduled for May 10.
Congress members in the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) council have raised objections against the proposal to install a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji in the city.
There are 18 assembly constituencies in the border district which is a Lingayat stronghold and has been a BJP bastion in the last two decades.
Amid fear over the border row with Maharashtra and disruption due to protests by various communities, the entire city resembles a cantonment of sorts.
The Belagavi administration has banned three Maharashtra ministers and an MP from entering this border district, as they are expected to participate in the "black day" event organised by Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) on November 1, on the occasion of Karnataka formation day.
The decades-old boundary dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra over Belagavi has again flared up as both the State governments are readying for a legal battle.
For the first time, a presiding officer was declaring in public what decision he will be taking, the Rajya Sabha member said.
Karnataka and Maharashtra have bickered over a disputed border for more than half a century.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday said that the security of Kannadigas who are settled in Maharashtra is the responsibility of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday said the state should stand firmly behind people in the Marathi-speaking areas of neighbouring Karnataka and appealed to political parties not to behave in a way that would hurt them.
Thackeray said on Sunday his government is committed towards incorporating into the state the areas of Karnataka where Marathi-speaking people are in majority.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday urged politicians of Maharashtra not to use the language bogey or border issue for their political survival, as he made it clear that the state will not give even an inch of its land to the neighbouring state.
Basic amenities like roads, schools and health centres are what Belgaum needs, not an issue that belongs to the history books.
Raut also hit out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, saying the state appeared weak to counter such attacks.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said that he will ask his Maharashtra counterpart Eknath Shinde not to send his ministers to Belagavi, amid the raging border dispute between both the state, as it may disrupt the law and order situation in the border district.
The resolution which also condemned the border dispute 'created' by Maharashtra and moved by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, was adopted by a voice vote.
'It is Maharashtra that started this fire.' 'Suddenly, out of nowhere, they started talking about the border dispute being sub judice and they started talking about meeting the people in Belagavi who want to break up our state.'
Pawar claimed that since the last few weeks, conscious attempts were being made by the Karnataka CM to take the situation in a different direction.
The miscreants were apparently upset with the demand of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti, a regional outfit fighting for the merger of Belagavi into the western state.
In his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in the party mouthpiece Saamana, Raut said state Chief Minister and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray in his address to Shiv Sainiks on January 23 had turned the tables on the BJP, which was criticising him over his illness.
Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai, appointed for coordinating the state's border dispute with Karnataka, are unlikely to visit Belagavi on Tuesday as both have various meetings scheduled in Maharashtra during the day.
'People will teach a lesson to those who are compromising it for the sake of power and money.'
'The Maharashtra government is not being very clear; they are keeping quiet.'
The Karnataka legislative assembly on Monday passed a unanimous resolution condemning the recent defacing of Shivaji Maharaj and Sangolli Rayanna's statues and burning of Kannada flag, and said such incidents will be considered as an act of sedition and strict action will be taken against those involved under 'Goonda Act.'
A section of others raised objections as the news spread, leading to tension in the area. Those objecting, largely Marathi speaking, are opposed to the location where they want to install a statue of Maratha ruler Shivaji, after whom the circle is named.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said the areas dominated by Marathi-speaking people on the state's border with Karnataka should be declared as a Union territory till the Supreme Court gives its final verdict on the issue.
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