Raj Thackeray fumes over boundary issue

MUMBAI - Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray Friday accused the central government of betraying the state over the border row with Karnataka and said Marathi leaders in Delhi did not pursue the case effectively.

Speaking to mediapersons here after addressing a party meet, Thackeray said that leaders from the state had “betrayed” the people of Maharashtra.

“Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is lost in cricket, he is in the dark about the boundary row. Two (former) railway ministers from the state (Madhu Dandavate and Ram Naik) hardly did anything for the people of their state. Other leaders from the state are cowed down by central leaders,” Thackeray said.

In an affadavit to the Supreme Court Thursday, the central government dismissed Maharashtra’s claim to 814 villages in Belgaum, Gulbarga, Karwar and Bidar districts of Karnataka that have mostly Marathi speakers.

Taking a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Thackeray said the present party president, Nitin Gadkari, is a Maharrashtrian. “Then whey is he silent on the boundary issue?”

Thackeray also sought to know why the Shiv Sena did not raise the issue when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ruled India 1998-2004.

“The Maharashtra-Karnataka boundary issue should have been settled once and for all during the NDA regime. Why was it not done?”

Alleging that the state had always got a raw deal, Thackeray said: “Be it the boundary issue, railways, or water-sharing issue with other states, injustice has always been meted out to Maharashtra.”

In its affidavit, the central government told the apex court that just because most people in the border districts speak Marathi was not ground enough for the areas to be appended to Maharashtra.