KOLHAPUR/BELAGAVI: A 300-strong contingent from the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance trying to enter Karnataka to protest denial of permission to attend a Marathi literary convention was stopped by Maharashtra Police on the border, stoking tension over the ongoing border conflict between the neighbours. The Belagavi administration in Karnataka clamped prohibitory orders in and around the venue of the Marathi Mahasammelan.
Friction on either side of the border escalated five days after Union home minister Amit Shah asked both states not to press their respective claims on the decades-old dispute till the Supreme Court decided the matter. The commotion mirrored differences among elected representatives on the issue in the state assemblies that convened for the winter session on the same day.
At least 50 MVA members from Kolhapur district, including NCP MLA and former minister Hasan Mushrif, were stopped by Karnataka cops from entering the southern state at the Kognoli border checkpoint along NH 48 in the afternoon.
The group staged an impromptu sit-in on the Maharashtra side, affecting highway traffic. Maharashtra Police detained the protesters and escorted them about 10-15km further inside before their release. Pro-Marathi outfit Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti had organised the convention of Marathi-speaking people in Belagavi, the epicentre of the border spat, and invited Maharashtra leaders to participate in it.
