Mumbai: A day after a Maharashtra minister was detained in Belgaum in neighbouring Karnataka, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said the Supreme Court's verdict on the dispute between the two states over the region would be acceptable to all. Maharashtra claims Belgaum, part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, but currently a district of Karnataka, on linguistic grounds.
The issue is being heard by the apex court. Talking to reporters in Belgaum, some 490 kilometres from Mumbai, Raut said, "Our country is run on laws. The Constitution is supreme. The Supreme Court is hearing the case and whatever the court decides will be acceptable to all."
Queried on local outfit Karnataka Navnirman Sena opposing his visit to the region, Raut said Belgaum police have made appropriate arrangements (for his safety). On Friday, Maharashtra minister of state Rajendra Patil Yadravkar, MLA from Shirol in Kolhapur, had gone to Belgaum to pay tribute to the martyrs of the movement for the merger of Marathi speaking villages there into Maharashtra. A gathering is organised every year to honour those who died during the first 'Samyukta Maharashtra Andolan' on January 17, 1956. Karnataka has a BJP government.
