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Maharashtra-Karnataka border row: Govt reappoints Chandrakant Patil, Shambhuraj Desai as nodal ministers to resolve dispute

On February 21 night, a 51-year-old conductor on a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus was allegedly assaulted in Marihal, Belagavi,

Chandrakant PatilDesai demanded that the new mass edition should have at least one lakh copies and must be distributed among the general public. (Express File)

A week after violent clashes had stalled the plying of buses between Maharashtra and Karnataka, the state government has confirmed the re-appointment of state Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil from the BJP and Tourism Minister Shambhuraj Desai from the Shiv Sena as its nodal ministers for resolving the ongoing border dispute row between the two states. In the previous government also, the same ministers were in charge of the issue.

Meanwhile, former minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Subhash Desai on Friday wrote to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis asking him to re-publish the new edition of the book ‘Maharashtra-Karnataka Seemavad: Sangharsh Aani Sankalp’, a detailed book published by the Maharashtra government in 2021 on the border dispute. Desai demanded that the new mass edition should have at least one lakh copies and must be distributed among the general public.

“At a time when the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute is raging, it is important that the book be made available to the general public in the state as well as those in border areas,” Desai stated in his letter.

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On February 21 night, a 51-year-old conductor on a Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus was allegedly assaulted in Marihal, Belagavi, after an argument with a woman passenger, who insisted on speaking to him in Marathi. Police arrested four people for the attack, but the conductor was also booked after the woman accused him of misbehaving with her.

Subsequently, the driver of a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus was attacked and his face blackened in Hiriyur taluka of Karnataka’s Chitradurga district. Several people were arrested after the incident. On February 23, a KSRTC bus was vandalised in Maharashtra, and “Jay Maharashtra”, “Marathi” and “Maharashtra Navnirman Sena” were written on it.

The following day, alleged members of the Shiv Sena (UBT) attacked the driver of a North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) bus at Saat Rasta in Solapur, smeared saffron colour on his face, and raised pro-Maharashtra slogans. Karnataka restricted operations to Maharashtra as tensions rose, but stopped all KSRTC buses after the February 24 incident. Normal bus services resumed from Wednesday.

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