No anti-Karnataka protest by Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti in Belagavi

Belagavi: 'Mahamelava', a parallel session proposed by Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) on the inaugural day of winter session of the legislature on Monday, proved a flop as the district administration denied permission for an anti-Karnataka event and barred the entry of key leaders from Maharashtra. After their wait until Monday morning for permission to hold Mahamelava at Vaccine Depot in Tilakwadi, MES leaders decided to organise the event on a road adjacent to Vaccine Depot when the local administration denied permission. The state government had been under tremendous pressure from  Kannada organisations not to allow the 'Mahamelava.'However, some top leaders from Maharashtra managed to enter Belagavi through different routes and attended the event on the road. 

Addressing a small gathering, former Maharashtra minister Jayawant Patil said the Maharashtra government would hold its legislature session in Belagavi's Suvarna Vidhan Soudha soon. “Maharashtra holds the budget session in Mumbai and winter session at Nagpur every year. There's  not doubt that we will hold the third session in Belagavi,'' he claimed adding the Maharashtra  would surely win the boundary dispute case in the Supreme Court. Assuring support to  MES for merger of Marathi-majority areas of Karnataka with Maharashtra, Kolhapur MP Dhananjay Mahdik said he will raise alleged atrocities on Marathi-speaking people in Karnataka in parliament.