Maharashtra ministers cancel visit to Belagavi, Opposition fumes

Speaking to mediapersons on Tuesday morning, Desai said, “We have not cancelled the visit. We have rescheduled it. It is Mahaparinirvan Din, and on this occasion, we do not want our visit to cause any untoward incident in Belagavi.” Desai said Maharashtra had officially informed the Karnataka government of their visit, and that the ministers would go to Belagavi to meet the Marathi-speaking residents of the area to understand their expectations. “We were going in peace. But the Karnataka government painted our visit in a different light… In Independent India, no one can be stopped from visiting any area, and we were going as representatives of Maharashtra.”

“Belagavi visit is not on the schedule today,” said a spokesperson for Chandrakant Patil, who is in Pune. Last week, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s office wrote to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s office urging Maharashtra ministers not to visit Belagavi as it could instigate residents of the area.

The Opposition parties in Maharashtra slammed the government for postponing the delegation’s visit to Belagavi.

NCP leader Ajit Pawar said, “This is a failure of the Maharashtra government. And to conceal their failure, they are giving frivolous excuses….”.

December 6 is Mahaparinirvan Diwas and it has always been so. Did they not know this when they planned their visit for December 6? They should now give us the next date of visit if they are claiming to have postponed it.”

“Today, the CM of another state, who belongs to the same party, is giving ultimatums to Maharashtra ministers to not come and visit his state. And Maharashtra is listening to him. This is because Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday had said ‘since it is Mahaparinirvan Din, we don’t want to cause any protests… this is an important day for us all’,” he added.