Karnataka's Marathi belt seeks inclusion

Residents of the Maharashtrian-dominated regions in Karnataka, joined the 'Marathi Kranti Morcha' in Mumbai on Wednesday to press for their decades-old demand to be included in Maharashtra.

"We are here to demand quotas for the Maratha community and to seek that Marathi-speaking areas in Karnataka like Belgaum, Karwar, Nippani, Bidar and Bhalki are included in Maharashtra," said Vivek Rajendra Kutre, who was part of a 10,000 strong contingent from Belgaum who came to Mumbai to participate in the rally.

At the Azad Maidan in South Mumbai, where the morcha culminated in a public meeting, activists of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), a political front for Marathi-speakers in the Maharashtra-Karnataka border areas, were seen holding banners of their demands. "We are drawing attention to the need to resolve the boundary dispute," said Raju Patil, from Belgaum.

Patil said that the Maratha community had also organised a similar protest in Belgaum and other towns in Karnataka to press for their demands like quotas in jobs and education.