Attack on Constitution, insult to Home Minister: Uddhav Thackeray camp condemns ban on MP's entry into Belagavi

New Delhi, Dec 19 (PTI) Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray faction member Arvind Sawant on Monday condemned the "ban" on the entry of party MP Dhairyasheel Mane into Karnataka's Belagavi district and called it an attack on the Constitution.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, the South Mumbai MP also called for Union Home Minister Amit Shah's intervention in the matter and demanded protection to Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti's leaders following Karnataka Police's action against some of them during a protest in Belagavi.

Sawant described the Belagavi district administration's move as an "insult" to the Home minister, saying it came close on the heels of Shah advising Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and his Maharashtra counterpart Eknath Shinde on resolving the boundary dispute between the two states.

"The ban on the entry of leaders from Maharashtra is an attack on the Constitution. The worst is that our Home Minister is being insulted by non-compliance with the advice that he gave to the chief ministers of Karnataka and Maharashtra for maintaining peace," Sawant said. Mane was recently appointed as the chief of an expert committee formed by the Maharashtra government regarding a writ petition in the Supreme Court on the border dispute with Karnataka.

He had requested the Belagavi administration to make arrangements for his visit to the city. However, the district authorities banned his entry, saying a "possible inflammatory speech" by him might create law and order problems.

"Karnataka chief minister is not following his (Shah's) advice. We vehemently condemn it and demand that the Union Home Minister immediately intervene," Sawant said. Shah had last week asked the chief ministers of the two states to set up a six-member joint ministerial panel to address issues related to the border dispute and not make any claims till the Supreme Court pronounced its verdict.

The Home Minister had also told them that the border issue could not be settled on the streets but only through constitutional means. He had summoned Bommai and Shinde after tensions on the border issue flared up earlier this month, leading to violence in Belagavi and adjoining regions of Karnataka with a sizable Marathi-speaking population.

The Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti and some political outfits in Maharashtra have been demanding the merger of Belagavi with the state on the ground that the district and a few other neighbouring areas of Karnataka had a substantial Marathi-speaking population.

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