BJP reaping benefits instead of solving border row: Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru, Dec 8 :Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday accused the BJP of reaping political benefits instead of resolving Karnataka-Maharashtra border row.
“It is in the DNA of @BJP4Karnataka to reap political benefits out of controversies. Belagavi border issue, which could have been resolved through negotiations, is now allowed to grow so that BJP can take benefits,” he said in a series of tweets.Siddaramaiah said due to inter-state bus service being hit following the border row, people of both the states are anxious about the outcome, and hence Karnataka BJP should intervene and bring peace. He also appealed to Bommai to reach out to his Maharashtra counterpart and protect Kannadigas residing in Maharashtra from the government there which is making a bid to target them.“It is not just enough to claim it is a double-engine govt @BJP4India should step up whenever it is needed to solve the crisis. This time it has failed to resolve the issue…,” he said.
The border row is a long-pending issue wherein Maharashtra lays claim to Belagavi on the basis of the inhabitation of majority Marathi-speaking population.Karnataka has been refuting the claim by saying the issue has been settled under the Mahajan Commission Report.The controversy was stoked up after Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai, alongwith a Maharashtra MP, planned to visit Belagavi on December 6.
This provoked the Kannada organisations to resort to protests in both states.