CM Bommai speaks to Amit Shah over border row, Centre to call K'taka & Maha CMs meeting next week
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday said he has given details about the state's stand and facts regarding the raging border dispute with Maharashtra to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is likely to call a meeting of Chief Ministers of both states next week.
He also indicated that the state government is likely to convene an all-party meeting soon to discuss the issue.
The Chief Minister's statement came following a delegation of parliamentarians of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (opposition coalition in Maharashtra) meeting Shah on Friday regarding the border dispute with Karnataka.
"I have asked a delegation of our MPs to meet (Amit Shah) on Monday. I have also spoken to Shah. He said that he will send information and in two to three days he will be calling me and the Maharashtra Chief Minister. Most probably, that meeting will take place on December 14 or 15," Bommai said.
Speaking to reporters here, the Chief Minister said he has already informed Shah about Karnataka's stand and facts regarding the dispute, along with details.
"On Monday, our MPs will be sharing all the details, and as soon as he (Shah) calls, I will also go and reiterate Karnataka's stand before him," he added.
The Chief Minister had last night said that the Maharashtra delegation meeting Shah on the border dispute will not make any difference, and asserted that his government will not make any compromise on the issue.
Noting that Maharashtra has tried this in the past too, he said, "The case is in the Supreme Court. Our legitimate case in the Supreme Court is strong."
Responding to a question on Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah demanding that the government convene an all-party meeting to discuss the border dispute, Bommai today said he will be speaking to both Siddaramaiah and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy.
"I spoke to Siddaramaiah yesterday and told him that I will inform him about the further developments. I will speak to both Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy," he said.
The border row had intensified earlier this week, with vehicles from either sides being targeted, leaders from both states weighing in, and pro-Kannada and Marathi activists being detained by police amid a tense atmosphere in the border district of Belagavi.
Following this, the Karnataka and Maharashtra Chief Ministers spoke to each other over phone and agreed that there should be peace and law and order should be maintained on both sides.
The border issue dates back to 1957 after the reorganisation of states on linguistic lines. Maharashtra laid claim to Belagavi, which was part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, as it has a sizeable Marathi-speaking population. It also laid claim to 814 Marathi-speaking villages which are currently part of Karnataka.
Karnataka maintains the demarcation done on linguistic lines as per the States Reorganisation Act and the 1967 Mahajan Commission Report as final.
And, as an assertion that Belagavi is an integral part of the state, Karnataka has built the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, modelled on the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of legislature in Bengaluru, and a legislature session is held there annually.
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'One nation, one election' is unconstitutional and impractical: Prashant Bhushan
Nagpur, Dec 24: Lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday strongly opposed the idea of 'one nation, one election', calling it as "ridiculous and unconstitutional", and said holding simultaneous polls was impractical in a parliamentary democracy.
He also hailed the recent apex court judgements that gave a stay on lawsuits about reclaiming religious places, especially mosques, and 'bulldozer justice'.
Bhushan spoke at Parwana Oration 2024 organised here on the topic "Whither economic democracy in India' organised by Comrade H L Parwana Memorial Trust.
Answering reporters' query on 'one nation, one election' after his speech, he said, "It is ridiculous and unconstitutional because one cannot have simultaneous polls in parliamentary democracy for the reason that the government depends on enjoying the confidence of the majority in the House."
Two bills that lay down the mechanism to hold simultaneous elections were introduced in the Lok Sabha after a fiery debate last week.
"If there is a split in the party or if some people defect, then the government can fall and if the government falls and no other government can be formed then what will you do? Either you impose President's rule for the remaining term and if the central government falls, what do you do? You cannot impose President's rule there. Therefore, you will have to have fresh elections otherwise it is against democracy," he noted.
"Now, they are saying that fresh elections will be only for the remainder of the term. So how is that helping? You are now increasing the number of elections because now you are holding elections only for the remaining two years if say two years are left. This is totally bogus...There is no way this is practical and in my view this is totally unconstitutional," he said.
Equating 'bulldozer justice' with a lawless state of affairs where might is right, the Supreme Court last month laid down pan-India guidelines and said no property should be demolished without a prior show cause notice and the affected must be given 15 days to respond.
Recently, the apex court restrained till further directions the courts in the country from entertaining fresh lawsuits and passing any effective interim or final orders in pending ones seeking to reclaim religious places, especially mosques and dargahs (a Muslim shrine).
Speaking about it, he said, "We have seen that a few good things happened in the Supreme Court. One is the stay on all these suits about mosques being taken over for temples or being investigated as to whether there are temples below that or not."
"They (SC) have said that for the time being, these suits will not proceed. This is a very important development that has taken place," he said.
The other important decision is about ' bulldozer justice', he said.
"They have passed a very good judgement effectively putting a stay on it. They have also passed many judgements regarding the misuse of powers of the Enforcement directorate. ED has become the main instrument of harassing opposition leaders or activists, journalists, etc, wherein anything can be said to be money laundering and therefore ED gets into anything, whatsoever," he said.
Fortunately, in the recent last few months, there have been a number of judgements which have put brakes on the power of the ED, he added.
On a query about Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that 18 per cent GST will be imposed on the margin value of used car sales, Bhushan said it should be scrapped.
"I don't know whether she misunderstood what the scheme is and if this is the scheme it will have to go. It will also struck down in the court," he said.
When asked about Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' statement that pro-urban Naxal organisations supported the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' of Rahul Gandhi, Bhushan said, "That is all absolutely bunk. I mean they call any dissenter urban Naxalite..."
Addressing the gathering earlier, Bhushan called for the need to understand the difference between 'economic democracy' and 'political democracy'.
Economic inequality has increased so much that 10 to 20 families of this country own more wealth than the bottom 50 percent people of this country together, he claimed.
"We say that we have political democracy, but is the system in the country is run by the opinion of the people?" he asked.
A lot could have been done to reduce the economic inequality by implementing progressive tax, which means that tax will increase as the income increases. Maximum personal income tax in India is around 35 per cent, which is less than most of the other countries that are regarded as capitalist countries, he said.
Secondly, progressive wealth tax could have been implemented be it one, two or three percent, but we did not apply wealth tax, he said.
Bhushan made a pitch for inheritance tax, and said corporate tax has decreased in the country in the recent past.
The government should ensure that a person lives a dignified life with basic food, education, health care and shelter, he said.
