Ajit Pawar slams Karnataka DY CM Savadi over Mumbai remark; says “Mumbai will always belong to Maharashtra”

Political parties in Maharashtra, including the Shiv Sena and the NCP, have lashed out at Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi for saying that Mumbai should be included in Karnataka and made a Union Territory till the issue is resolved.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said, “Mumbai belonged to Maharashtra, is and will remain so,”.

 “Maharashtra-Karnataka border issue has been going on for many years. There were Marathi speaking MLAs and mayors in Belgaum. The majority of the people there also want to come to Maharashtra. “The name of Belgaum was changed to Belagavi…which was then made the second capital…a Vidhana Soudha was built and then a legislature session was held,” Pawar said. “The Centre needs to take an impartial view of the issue,” he added.

“Earlier, we (parts of Belagavi) were a part of Mumbai region, my demand, and the people of this region is that Mumbai should be attached to Karnataka…I demand that the Centre ensures that Mumbai is declared a Union Territory,” Savadi had issued a statement earlier.

Savadi’s statement came hours after Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the Marathi-speaking areas along the Maharashtra-Karnataka border in Belgaum, Karwar, Nippani, Bidar be declared as a Union Territory by the Centre till the Supreme Court rules on the issue.