All parties will have to abide by whatever decision the Supreme Court takes on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border issue, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said on Saturday.
He was here to speak at the Barrister Nath Pai Vyakhyan Mala lecture. “Rule of law is an accepted principle in this country. The Constitution is above all of us and we respect it. Let the Supreme Court hear both sides and pronounce its judgment,” he said.
To a question on some Maharashtra leaders making provocative statements in Belagavi, he only said the party’s stand was “let the court decide” and the Maharashtra Chief Minister had clarified his stand on several occasions in the past.
About some people opposing the involvement of the Shiv Sena in the Marathi issue in Belagavi, he said issue-based opposition was common in politics and that was not to be taken personally. He did not react to a question on the city police not allowing Maharashtra Minister Rajendra Patil Yadravkar to speak at an MES event on Friday. There were some protests in Kolhapur against the police action.
The city police earlier planned to stop Mr. Raut as well, but they allowed him to attend his meeting as it was not directly connected to the border issue, an officer told The Hindu. Several MES leaders received him at the Sambra airport. Some youth shouted slogans that Belagavi, Karwar, and Nippani should be merged with Maharashtra.
Bus services disrupted
Earlier in the day, bus services between Karnataka and Maharashtra were disrupted for some time. North-Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation officials took this decision following protests against the Karnataka government in Kolhapur by Shiv Sena cadre after the Belagavi police action against Mr. Yadravkar.
