Decades-old K'taka, Maharashtra boundary dispute flares up again

Belagavi (Karnataka): The decades-old boundary dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra over Belagavi has again flared up as both the State governments are readying for a legal battle.

On Monday, the Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra appointed two Ministers to coordinate with the legal team regarding the court case on the dispute that is set to come up in Supreme Court.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the State, too, deployed a battery of lawyers, including Mukul Rohatgi and Shyam Diwan, to fight its case.

The dispute dates back to the 1960s after the reorganisation of States on linguistic lines. Maharashtra laid claim on Belagavi, which was part of the Bombay Presidency at the time of independence, on linguistic grounds.