On Maharashtra Day, Ajit Pawar Reignites Karnataka Border Row; Bommai Responds

Deputy CM Pawar said that the fight to include more Marathi-speaking villages in Maharashtra continues.

The Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute was raked up again on Mahrashtra Day on Sunday, 1 May, as the state's Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar asserted on the occasion that the fight to include more Marathi-speaking villages in Maharashtra continues.

"On this Maharashtra Day, we still regret that several Marathi-speaking villages at the state border including Belgaum, Nipai, and Karwar couldn't be part of the state yet. I assure you we'll keep supporting the fight by the people of these villages to become a part of Maharashtra," Pawar was quoted as saying.

Pawar's remark was met with retaliation from the political leaders of Karnataka.

Taking a jibe at the Maharashtra government, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, "Whenever there's a political crisis in Maharashtra, and it's there now, their entire government hits rock bottom. They have created this language bogey now, just to survive politically."