Border row flares up in Belagavi affecting bus services between Karnataka - Maharashtra
Bengaluru, Feb 23 (PTI): Bus services between Karnataka and Maharashtra have been affected due to attack on bus drivers from both sides amid the sudden flare-up of border row in Belagavi in the last two days.
The decades-old dispute resurfaced on Friday when a bus driver and a conductor were beaten up for allegedly not speaking in Marathi at Marihal in Belagavi.
The bus conductor stated in his police complaint that a girl asked for a ticket in Marathi. When he said he did not know Marathi and asked her to speak in Kannada, she and her male friend attacked him.
At Marihal, a group of youths intercepted the bus and beat up the conductor.
While police arrested four people for the attack, the conductor has also been booked for 'indecent behaviour' with the minor girl on a complaint filed by the girl, Belagavi Police Commissioner Yada Martin Marbaniang told reporters.
In a retaliatory act, miscreants attacked and blackened a bus driver of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) Bhaskar Jadhav at Guyilal in Hiriyur Taluk of Chitradurga district on Saturday.
Police have arrested a few who were allegedly involved in the crime.
Following the incident, the Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik on Saturday ordered the suspension of the state transport buses to Karnataka. Sarnaik said the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus, which was plying from Bengaluru to Mumbai, was attacked in Chitradurga around 9.10 pm on Friday by pro-Kannada activists.
On Sunday an ultra-luxury bus belonging to the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) was disfigured with slogans like 'Jai Maharashtra', 'Marathi' and 'Maharashtra Navnirman Sena' written on it with black paint.
The KSRTC has also minimised the bus services to Maharashtra following the incident.
"We have limited the number of buses going to Maharashtra for the time being and are taking all precautions to normalise the situation," a senior officer in the North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) told PTI.
He said he was in touch with his Maharashtra counterpart to ensure smooth bus services between the two states.
Also, the bus conductor has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act following a complaint lodged by the girl.
Belagavi has a substantial Marathi population and a section among them often demands that this border district be merged with Maharashtra.
The Karnataka government and the local Kannada populace stoutly oppose this demand.
To assert its might, the Karnataka government has constructed Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi where once in a year it holds the legislative session.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Compromised PM didn't sign trade deal with US, but a bargain for Adani's release: Rahul
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of signing a trade deal with the US only to secure the "release" of billionaire businessman Gautam Adani.
"Compromised PM did not strike a trade deal, but a bargain for Adani's release," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X, after reports that the US has agreed to settle the lawsuit that accused Adani of hiding alleged bribery.
The US government has agreed to settle the lawsuit filed against Adani, who is accused of duping investors by concealing that his company's huge solar energy project in India was being facilitated by an alleged bribery scheme, according to court filings published Thursday.
Reacting to the reports, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said it was now clear why the PM agreed to the "hopelessly one-sided Indo-US trade deal that was really a steal by the US".
"And it is also clear why he abruptly halted Operation Sindoor on May 10, 2025, acting on President Trump's threats rather than on our national interest. Reportedly, the Trump Administration is about to drop all charges of corruption against Modani," he said on X.
"How much more compromised can the PM get?" Ramesh asked.
In the lawsuit filed in late 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani, who is a director at the group's renewable energy unit Adani Green Energy Ltd, of agreeing to pay about USD 265 million in bribes to Indian government officials between approximately 2020 and 2024 to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts on terms that expected to yield USD 2 billion of profit over 20 years.
It was alleged in the lawsuit that Adani Group raised USD 2 billion in loans and bonds, including from US firms, on the backs of false and misleading statements related to the firm's anti-bribery practices and policies.
The ports-to-energy conglomerate had denied the allegations.
