Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday said Karnataka was planning how it could claim Kannada-speaking villages in neighbouring Maharashtra and condemned leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi Government for frequently raking up the language-border row. “The Government’s stand is very clear on the border issue. There is no question of ceding even an inch of our land,” Mr. Bommai said. He was responding to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s statement on Sunday that his State (Maharashtra) would continue to extend support to the fight of Marathi-speaking people residing in areas bordering Karnataka to become a part of Maharashtra. There are Kannada-speaking areas in Maharashtra and we are also thinking of how to get them,” Mr. Bommai said, while lashing out at Mr. Pawar for raising the “language bogey” as a tactic to divert the attention away from the political crisis in his State. “There is a political crisis in Maharashtra. They rake up the language and border issues for their political survival,” Mr. Bommai said. “I urge Maharashtra politicians not to use the language bogey for their political ends,” he said. The border town of Belagavi has been a part of Karnataka since boundaries were demarcated on linguistic lines under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
