Govt reconstitutes border experts group with Sena MP Mane its head

Time of India

19 hours ago

Kolhapur: State govt has reappointed the Shiv Sena MP from Hatkanangle, Dhairyasheel Mane, as the head of the experts committee on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute. Kolhapur's Rajya Sabha member Dhananjay Mahadik has been made co-chairman of the experts group, which has the task of assisting govt in presenting the border dispute case strongly in the
Supreme Court
.
Mane's appointment has been made against the suggestion of the Madhyavarti Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti of Belagavi that sought NCP (SP) state chief Jayant Patil be made the committee's chairman, considering his long-standing association with Marathi activists advocating for the inclusion of Marathi-speaking areas from Karnataka into Maharashtra.
Last week, Marathi activists gathered at Belagavi and passed a resolution recommending the appointment of Patil as head of the committee.
They even wrote a letter to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in this regard, and also met NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar during his recent Kolhapur visit. Pawar had assured them that he would put in a word with the CM.
"Our recommendation has not been accepted. We think party politics has crept into the issue, which is very sensitive since we, as Marathis, are going through hardships and generations have passed fighting for the inclusion of Maharashtra after the states were formed on a linguistic basis," a senior office-bearer of the Samiti said.
Earlier, Mane was made the head of the expert committee after Eknath Shinde became the chief minister in 2022. The panel has a total of nine members, including the principal secretary of the law department.