‘Like China, we will enter Karnataka,’ says Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut over ‘Border Issue’

In an ongoing tension between Karnataka and Maharashtra over the border issue, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut made a controversial statement.

Border tensionĀ 

The border tension between Karnataka and Maharashtra catches new controversy, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday sparked a fresh controversy by saying, “We will enter Karnataka like China has entered the country”.

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The senior leader of the party said that he did not need anyone’s “permission” regarding the issue.

“Like China has entered, we will enter (Karnataka). We don’t need anyone’s permission. We want to solve it through a discussion but Karnataka CM is igniting a fire. There is a weak government in Maharashtra and is not taking any stand on it,” Sanjay Raut said.

The leader’s statement has come at a time of elevated tension between Maharashtra and Karnataka over a decades-old border conflict and the issue is listed to the Supreme Court.

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Maharashtra Karnataka border

Tension in the border areas of Belagavi on the Maharashtra Karnataka border after members of the Maharastra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) and Nationalist Congress Party protested on Monday demanding they be allowed into Belagavi. However, Police denied permission to MES to conduct its Maha Melava at the vaccine depot.

Meanwhile, Eknath Shinde’s government is facing criticism over the issue and an uproar by the opposition in the ongoing winter session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar raised the issue of the border dispute earlier in the Assembly and said “A Lok Sabha member from Maharashtra has been stopped from entering Belgaum. In a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah it was decided that no one would be stopped from going there, then how can the collector there take such a decision.”

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Responding to the issue raised by Pawar, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said, “For the first time the Home Minister of the country mediated the border dispute, he has taken this issue seriously, we have presented the side of the border residents to him, Amit Shah has had put forth his point in front of the border dispute, now there should be no politics on the border dispute, we should stand together with the border residents.”