Special Correspondent
| Dharam Singh, Kharge urge Chief Minister to call all-party meet |
ALARM BELLS: Congress leaders N. Dharam Singh and M Mallikarjun Kharge addressing the press on Belgaum issue at party office in Bangalore on Friday. — Photo: K. Gopinathan
Bangalore: The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has said the Government should take serious note of the moves made in Maharashtra to bring certain major border towns in Karnataka under Central rule.
KPCC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Dharam Singh told presspersons here on Friday that a few organisations in Maharashtra were pressuring the Centre to bring Nippani and Khanapur in Belgaum district and parts of Bidar district under Central rule. These organisations were planning to move the Supreme Court. A few Marathi organisations, apparently with the support of some political leaders, had made this proposal, they said.
The two leaders said the proposal was part of a long drawn plan to include those towns in Maharashtra. Political leaders in Karnataka should come together and fight for safeguarding the interests of the State, they said.
Mr. Dharam Singh said Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy should immediately call for an all-party meeting and take an all-party delegation to New Delhi to bring the matter to the notice of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other key Central leaders.
As a Chief Minister of the State "I had led several delegations to the Prime Minister. In connection with the border issue, a meeting with MPs of the State was held in New Delhi and it was decided at that meeting to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court," he said. Mr. Dharam Singh said nothing had been done in that matter and that had emboldened the Marathi organisations and a section of political leaders in Maharashtra to go ahead with their plans.
Mr. Kharge said it was improper on part of leaders in Maharasthra to time and again raise the border issue irrespective of the fact that the dispute had been settled several decades ago.
The report of the Mahajan Commission, which went into the border dispute, was final and Karnataka had taken the stand all along that there could be no modification.
Metro project
Mr. Kharge and Mr. Dharam Singh said the credit for clearing the Rs. 6,395-crore Bangalore Metral Rail Project should go to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and some of the State Congress leaders who strove to get approval for the project.
No comments:
Post a Comment