SKIRTING BEYOND THE BORDERS

The storm over Belagavi has somewhat receded after a scrappy, acrimonious December. But local authorities in the city that's at the centre of a long-festering border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka haven't let down their guard. Earlier this week, they barred Maharashtra MP Dhairyasheel Mane from entering Belagavi, wary of letting things flare up again.

- Dhaval S. Kulkarni and Ajay Sukumaran

The move was expected. Mane, who belongs to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS) party, is the chairman of an expert panel advising the Maharashtra government on the border issue. He had been invited to a Martyr's Day programme organised on January 17 by the political outfit Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) in which 300 people were participating.

This comes just weeks after a war of words between politicians from the two states, with the two respective legislatures approving resolutions affirming their claims over the predominantly Marathi-speaking areas on Karnataka's borders with Maharashtra. This latest chapter in the almost six-decade-old battle also has political undercurrents-election is due in BJP-ruled Karnataka this year while in Maharashtra the opposition has lost no opportunity to attack the coalition BSS-BJP government for taking a "soft stand" on the issue.

In late December, the Karnataka assembly approved a resolution stating that it will "not cede an inch of land to Maharashtra". Five days later, the Maharashtra legislature asserted that "every inch" of the 865 villages it claims along with towns like Belagavi, Karwar, Bidar, Nipani and Bhalki should be part of Maharashtra. It also said it would fight with "firm resolve and absolute strength" its almost two-decade-old case in the Supreme Court on the issue.