Border dispute resolution efforts started with 'weak mindset': Shinde

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday told the Legislative Council said that the state's attempt to resolve the border dispute with Karnataka started with a "weak mindset" as the resolution tabled by first CM Yashwantrao Chavan demanding merger of Marathi-speaking villages from the neighbouring state did not specify the deadline for it.

Shinde's statement appears to be in sync with the Bharatiya Janta Party's (BJP) stand, which has been blaming the previous state governments for failing to resolve that the border dispute with Karnataka in the last six decades.

Speaking in the Upper House of the state legislature, CM Shinde said, "The first resolution in Maharashtra Assembly was tabled by the then chief minister Yashwantrao Chavan demanding that Belgaum (Belagavi), Karwar and other villages be merged with Maharashtra. In his resolution, Chavan did not specify the deadline to resolve the issue. Maharashtra's struggle for resolving the border dispute started with such a