Shiv Sena urges Maharashtra govt to approach SC over HD Kumaraswamy's remark on making Belagavi Karnataka's second capital

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena Wednesday said that the Maharashtra government should approach the Supreme Court and urge it to send a contempt notice to the Karnataka government for its Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s remark about making Belagavi the second capital of the southern state. The Shiv Sena said Maharashtra and Karnataka were embroiled in a border dispute, centering around Belagavi, in the Supreme Court and Kumaraswamy’s remark, reportedly made on 31 July, was “like rubbing salt into the wounds of people wanting to be part of Maharashtra”. [caption id=“attachment_4267989” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Maharashtra claims Belagavi, part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency but currently a district of Karnataka, on linguistic grounds. On 31 July, Kumaraswamy had said his government was mulling shifting of its offices to the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi, in an attempt to address allegations of discrimination levelled by the people of north Karnataka. The Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi (Belgaum), modelled on the lines of the Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat and legislature in Bengaluru, functions only during the winter session of the state legislature and is shut during the rest of the year. “Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has announced that Belagavi will be made the second capital of the state. This is like rubbing salt into the wounds of people wanting to be a part of Maharashtra,” the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’. The Sena sought to know how the Kumaraswamy government could take a decision on the disputed area while the matter was sub-judice. “The Maharashtra government should immediately take cognisance of this matter and lodge a protest with the Supreme Court. The state’s lawyer should plead that the Supreme Court send a contempt notice to Karnataka government,” it said. The Sena quoted Kumaraswamy as saying, “In order to ensure the development of Belagavi, making it the second capital of Karnataka was under consideration of the government for the last 12 years. This issue is pending since I became the chief minister in 2006. I am seriously considering how to implement the proposal,” it said.