Mumbai: Terming the registration of FIR against Home Minister RR Patil by Karnataka police as "wrong action", Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Monday said he would speak to his counterpart from the neighbouring state requesting him to drop the charges. Chavan was intervening in an impromptu debate in the Legislative Assembly here initiated by Labour Minister Hassan Mushrif condemning the Karnataka government on booking Patil for his alleged "provocative" speech on the Belgaum issue.
He said the action taken by Karnataka police was wrong and he would speak to the Chief Minister requesting him to drop the charges against Patil. "If the State Legislature wishes, I am not averse to meeting the Prime Minister again leading an all-party delegation on the boundary dispute," he told the House.
The FIR was filed against Patil on April 10, by Karnataka Police for promoting enmity between different groups through his speech on Belgaum, a bone of contention between the two states. According to Karnataka police, the FIR was filed for "provocative utterances" by Patil at a function organised in Bangalore to celebrate the birthday of Kiran Thakur, leader of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES) and editor of Marathi daily "Tarun Bharat".
The FIR was registered under Sections 153(A) of IPC for provoking and creating disharmony between communities on the basis of religion, race, place of birth and language under the Representation of People Act. Mushrif said Karnataka government has over the years suppressed the voice of the Marathi-speaking people in 765 border villages including Belgaum and Karwar.
Subhash Desai (Sena) said the FIR was not just an insult of RR Patil but that of the entire state. "We will not tolerate this. We should meet the Prime Minister again and reiterate our demand that the disputed areas be declared as Union territory till the Supreme Court settles the issue," he said.
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