Maharashtra-K'taka border row: Uddhav Thackeray to meet PM Modi

Mumbai: Taking an aggressive stand on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today said the Centre should declare as Union Territory the Marathi speaking villages in the disputed region on the borders of the two states. “I have decided to meet Narendra Modi along with my MPs and demand that the Centre should declare the disputed areas in the border areas a Union Territory. If it cannot be done, the disputed areas should be handed over to Maharashtra immediately,” Thackeray said addressing reporters here. [caption id=“attachment_1685465” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Uddhav Thackeray. PTI[/caption] Slamming the Democratic Front government in Maharashtra, Thackeray said the state failed to strongly fight for the inclusion of the disputed region and that the Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan should immediately convene a meeting to find a solution to the problem. “This case seems to be dead. This is a failure on the part of the Chief Minister. But we will still meet the CM and ask him to find a solution to the injustice that the Marathi people are facing on the hands of the Karnataka police,” he said. Tempers had run high in July after the Belgaum district administration demolished a signboard at Yellur village near Belgaum proclaiming that the village belonged to Maharashtra following which protests erupted in Kolhapur, where Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation buses were stoned. Police had lathi-charged a group of pro-Maharashtra supporters who had engaged in stone-pelting at Yellur. PTI