Maharashtra's health scheme for border areas irks Karnataka

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has slammed the Maharashtra Government’s decision to implement a health insurance scheme in 865 bordervillages which are claimed by both the states. Even Karnataka's Opposition party, Congress, has denounced the move. “I strongly condemn the Maharashtra Government’s announcement of a health insurance scheme in our villages, as it violates the agreement we had arrived upon in the presence of Amit Shah,” Bommai told the media on Thursday.

According to sources, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had recently allocated an additional Rs54 crore for ‘Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana’ so that the benefits could be extended to 865 villages in the southern state that Maharashtra has been laying claim to.

Jat and Solapur's resolution to join Karnataka

In a counter, Karnataka said many talukas and gram panchayats in the border districts of Jat and Solapur had passed resolutions to join the southern state as they were “not getting justice” in Maharashtra. “In such a situation, the Maharashtra Government should behave responsibly, considering the sensitivity of the issue,” Bommai said. “It is an attempt to disturb the federal structure of India,” said the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar and opposition leader Siddaramaiah.

In December 2022, Shah had stepped in to defuse border tensions between the two states and asked both the sides not to make any claim or counterclaim until a Supreme Court verdict on the border row comes through.