Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had staked claim to Solapur and the holy town of Akkalkot in Maharashtra as his State goes for Assembly polls next year, and those places might be handed over to them, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Saturday.
“As they are going for polls next year, I fear Solapur and Akkalkot might be handed over to Karnataka, similar to how big-ticket projects headed for Maharashtra were diverted to poll-bound Gujarat,” he said while addressing a rally at Chikhli in Vidarbha region’s Buldhana district.
Mr. Thackeray lashed out at his former colleague and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for not reacting to the inter-State border dispute and to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s insulting remarks on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
In a sarcastic tone, the former Chief Minister said that Mr. Shinde might conclude that as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to get back Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, there is no harm in handing over 40 villages to Karnataka.
He appealed to people to support the bandh that his party plans to call to protest against Mr. Koshyari.
Speaking about farmers committing suicide in the Vidarbha region, Mr. Thackeray said that about 1,000 farmers ended their lives in recent months, adding that if he had been Chief Minister, he would not have allowed such incidents to take place.
Further, he termed the Bharatiya Janata Party as a “party of imports” and asked people whether it is “a political party or a chor bazaar”.
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