Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti organised a Maha Melava to put forth its demand for a united Maharashtra that includes Belagavi and Bidar districts and Karwar in Uttara Kannada district to coincide with the winter session of the Legislature Assembly.
Dhananjay Madik, MP from Kolhapur, Sandhyadevi Krishnarao Desai-Kupakar, MLA from Chandgad in Kolhapur district, and K.P. Patil, MLA from Budhargad in Kolhapur district, attended the rally.
Mr. K.P. Patil said that the Maharashtra Assembly session was being held in Mumbai and Nagpur now. “If we win the case for merging Belagavi with Maharashtra, we will hold the third session of the Maharashtra Assembly in Belagavi,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner S. Ziyaullah had forbidden any leader from Maharashtra participating in the rally by a special order issued on Sunday.
The rally scheduled to be held on the vaccine depot premises was shifted to the road in front of the depot. Some of the organisers told presspersons later that the city corporation of Belagavi that owns the depot land had not permitted its usage.
Police Commissioner T.G. Krishna Bhat had, however, permitted the rally with some conditions.
Party leaders Deepak Dalavi and Maloji Ashtikar addressed the rally. Mr. Dalavi spoke against imposition of Kannada by the Karnataka government on Marathi-speaking people.
Mr. Ashtikar said that the Karnataka government had violated the guidelines of the State Reorganisation Commission that had favoured merger of Belagavi with Maharashtra.
MLAs Arvind Patil and Sambhaji Patil spoke.
