Mumbai Dec 28 PTI Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Tuesday said the state government should take serious note of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommais remark that 40 villages from Jat tehsil in the border district of Sangli were welcome to join the southern state Speaking on a point of information in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Patole said the state government needs to understand what problems these villages are facing Bommai has spoken about it in the Karnataka Assembly and we need to take it seriously He also said Karnataka will not part with even an inch of Belagavi and other Marathi-dominated areas in that state the Congress leader said Maharashtra and Karnataka are locked in a border dispute for several decades and the matter is pending before the Supreme Court Maharashtra stakes claim to Belagavi Karwar and surrounding areas which have a sizable Marathi-speaking population and are part of the southern state NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal who is coordination minister for the Marathi-dominated border areas in Karnataka had last week asserted that what Bommai said would never happen Congress MLA Vikramsinh Sawant recently said in the Maharashtra Assembly these 40 villages had launched an agitation in 2011-12 threatening to join Karnataka if they did not get basic amenities including drinking water But the gram panchayats had not passed any resolution he added PTI MR GK GK

Mumbai Dec 24 PTI A Congress MLA on Friday said the Maharashtra government should take seriously a reported remark by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai that 40 villages from Jat tehsil were welcome to join the southern stateVikramsinh Sawant MLA from Jat in the border district of Sangli was speaking in the Maharashtra AssemblyBommai made the comment in the Karnataka Assembly earlier this week he claimedBommai said Karnataka will not cede even an inch of Belgaum Belagavi and if the 40 gram panchayats in Jat tehsil pass a resolution that they wish to be part of Karnataka they will be incorporated the MLA saidThe remark should be taken seriously Sawant saidNCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal who is coordination minister for the Marathi-dominated border areas in Karnataka said what Bommai said would never happenSawant said these 40 villages had launched an agitation in 2011-12 threatening to join Karnataka if they did not get basic amenities including drinking water But the gram panchayats had not passed any resolution the MLA saidNCP MLA Rohit Pawar said a delegation from Belagavi told him that several youths were picked up from their homes and detained by the Karnataka police recentlyThe Maharashtra government should look into the issue he demandedMaharashtra and Karnataka are locked in a border dispute for several decades and the matter is pending before the Supreme CourtMaharashtra stakes claim to Belagavi Karwar and surrounding areas which have a sizable Marathi-speaking population and are part of the southern stateRecently Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and other leaders from the ruling alliance had condemned alleged desecration of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharajs statue in Bengaluru PTI MR KRK KRK