Belagavi is part of Karnataka, will never go to Maharashtra: CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday asserted that Belagavi is an integral part of Karnataka and will never be allowed to merge with Maharashtra.
The Chief Minister also said that Mahajan Committee report on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute is final.
“There will be no compromise on the Belagavi issue. The Maharashtra government has approached the Supreme Court on the issue but the Mahajan report is final. We will not let go of Belagavi because it is Kannada land and a part of Karnataka. No one can deny this,” he said after flagging off the grand procession of Goddess Bhuvaneshwari and Annama Devi held at Nrupatunga Mantapa, Mysore Bank Circle.
The border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra has persisted for decades, with the neighbouring state claiming Belagavi and its surrounding aread citing their substantial Marathi speaking population.
Karnataka has rejected Maharashtra's claim, citing the Mahajan Committee report.
The state hosts one Vidhana Sabha session at Belagavi based Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, a replica of Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.
Siddaramaiah noted that there used to be five Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) MLAs elected in the state, but now their number has come down to zero.
“The MES people are also Kannadigas. If anyone among them indulges in rowdyism, we will deal with them firmly," the CM said.
He told the Kannada activists that the government is ready to do whatever is necessary for the development of Kannada schools in border areas.
Hailing the Kannada activists for their struggle to protect the interests of the state, Siddaramaiah assured them that cases registered against them for pro-Kannada agitations would be withdrawn.
The CM called upon people of the state to develop pride in Kannada land, language, and culture.
"We must create an atmosphere of Kannada in our land. For that, no matter in which language someone speaks to you, you must reply in Kannada,” he urged.
Siddaramaiah said all those who have built their life on Kannada soil should respect the Kannada atmosphere.
"Let us take a pledge that we will speak only in Kannada on Kannada soil,” he appealed.
On the Kannada activists' demand for a bilingual policy, the Chief Minister said, “I personally support bilingualism, but if the bilingual policy has to be implemented legally, it has to be discussed in the Cabinet."
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
