Bengaluru / Kolhapur: Tension prevailed on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border in Belgaum and Kolhapur with Karnataka leaders, in a provocative move, raised the border dispute at Belgaum and burnt Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in effigy.
In retaliation, Shiv Sena activists burnt Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in effigy and stopped screening of a Kannada movie in Maharashtra's Kolhapur city.
Bus services between Karnataka and Maharashtra were suspended this morning as reports came in that the situation may flare up any time.
With an anti-BJP dispensation taking over in Maharashtra, Karnataka leaders have, of late, been raising the ante and the latest in the series of provocative moves was a fiery press meet addressed by former Karnataka minister Basavaraj Horatti.
Addressing reporters in Belgaum, Horatti called Uddhav Thackeray a 'mischievous man' and wanted all MPs and MLAs of Belgaum district to gather at the border to send out a firm message that Belgaum belonged to Karnataka.
This led to tension at the border, especially in Belgaum which has a sizeable Marathi-speaking population. As there was no sign of the tension abating, authorities suspended to and fro bus services between Belgaum and Kolhapur,
In a tit-for-tat act Yuva Sena workers led by Harshal Surve raised slogans against Karnataka CM Yediyurappa and Horatti and burnt their effigies in Kolhapur.
They also stopped screening of a Kannada movie at Apsara Talkies and blackened billboards, having Kannada text, of some shopkeepers.
Belgaum has a sizeable population of Marathis. But Karnataka is fighting Maharashtra’s claim and has made Belgaum the second capital of the State and built a lavish legislature where sessions are held once or twice a year.
