Centre asks Maharashtra and Karnataka to form ministerial team to address border issue

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asked Karnataka and Maharashtra to form a six-member team with ministers from both states to address boundary issues.

At a meeting with Maharashtra Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and his Karnataka counterpart Basavaraj Bommai, he also said the boundary dispute cannot be settled on the streets but only through constitutional means.

Shah had called the chief ministers of the two states after violence flared up in the border region where Maharashtra has staked claim on 865 Marathi-speaking villages in Karnataka.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra were also present at the meeting.

The Karnataka-Maharashta border row escalated into violence after vehicles from both states were attacked and damaged in Belgaon and Pune.

Since its creation on May 1, 1960, Maharashtra has claimed that 865 villages, including Belgaon (now Belgavi), Karwar and Nippani, should be merged into Maharashtra. Karnataka, however, has refused to part with its territory.