Karnataka - Belgaum   

Deve Gowda criticises Maharashtra politicians

For Development: Janata Dal (Secular) president H.D. Deve Gowda addressing a public meeting in Belgaum on Sunday.

Belgaum: The former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president H.D. Deve Gowda and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy criticised politicians of Maharashtra and the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti for raking up the boundary dispute and staking claim on Belgaum.

They also made a plea to both Kannada and Marathi speaking people of the State in general and Belgaum in particular not to react or respond to the provocations either from the MES or from across the boundary.

Declaring that Belgaum would be developed into second capital of Karnataka on the “historic” occasion of laying foundation stone for Suvarna Vidhana Soudha here on Sunday, Mr. Gowda recalled that former Prime Minister and former Chief Minister of the erstwhile Greater Maharashtra late Morarji Desai during his visit to Belgaum had made it clear that Belgaum was part of Karnataka.

After the Mahajan Commission gave its report, Morarji Desai had maintained that it was a closed chapter and he did not want to discuss anything on the issue as Belgaum had become part of Karnataka, Mr. Gowda said.

Let alone Maharashtra, it was for entire nation to understand that the issue of Belgaum had been resolved long ago and nobody should rake up the issue and play with the sentiments of the people living in Belgaum and the boundary areas of the State, he said.

Mr. Kumaraswamy warned that the State Government would not tolerate if the anti-Karnataka forces such as the MES continued to create obstacles in the process of development and progress of Belgaum to serve their political interests.

He appealed to both Marathi and Kannada speaking people against falling prey to provocations by the MES or Maharashtra politicians to create linguistic disharmony and disturbance in the State. He said Karnataka was a peace-loving State.

Even after 60 years of Independence, there was still a big gap between the rural poor and the urban rich as money and power continued to be in the hands of a privileged few. “Therefore, do not add to the problems if you cannot solve them,” he said.

Mr. Gowda took a dig at the Union Government’s economic policies stating that they could achieve only two per cent growth as against four per cent agricultural growth envisaged in the 10th Plan.

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