Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut targeted the Centre and claimed incidents of violence amid the raging border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka cannot take place without “Delhi’s support”.
Mr Raut also hit out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, saying the state appeared weak to counter such attacks.
Amid the rising tension between the two states over the border row, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and his Maharashtra counterpart Shinde spoke to each other over the phone on Tuesday night and agreed there should be peace and law and order should be maintained on both sides.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also spoke to Bommai on Tuesday over stone pelting on vehicles from Maharashtra entering the southern state and said he will also take up the matter with the Centre.
A Maharashtra ministerial delegation’s proposed visit to Belagavi in Karnataka did not materialise on Tuesday amid the simmering tension over the boundary row, while Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation suspended bus services to the southern state citing a police advisory.
Rajya Sabha member Mr Raut in a tweet on Wednesday targeted the central government by claiming that Marathi people and vehicles from Maharashtra cannot be attacked in Belagavi without “Delhi’s support”.
‘Workers of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti have been arrested. The game of ending Marathi’s self-esteem by breaking its backbone has started. The attacks in Belagavi are part of the same conspiracy. Get up Marathas get up!” Mr Raut said.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde says he has created a revolution, he pointed out.
“What kind of a revolution it is can be seen in the manner how the state is looking weak to counter these attacks,” Mr Raut said.
Those who quit the Shiv Sena saying they have self-respect have now decided to stay silent, he tweeted.
Later, talking to reporters, Mr Raut said, “Declare Belagavi a Union Territory.” People are ready to go to Belagavi under the leadership of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar, he said.
The NCP is an ally of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and both the parties along with the Congress were in power in Maharashtra before their government collapsed in June this year following a rebellion led by Mr Shinde.
Mr Shinde later formed the government with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Mr Raut said, “Don’t we know what is happening? There is a BJP government at the Centre, there is a BJP government in Karnataka and also in Maharashtra.”
“The ministers (Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai) have backed out (from going to Belagavi)…we will give them protection and march with them,” he said.
