Shiv Sena now to protest in Maharashtra over Belgaum border issue

This is for the first time that the border issue of Belgaum will now be played in Maharashtra. Until date, there were numerous protests and agitations were undertaken by MES in Karnataka, especially Belgaum but now it seems the Shiv Sena will hold protests in Kolhapur today on this issue.

Sena activists plan to lay siege to the DC office in Kolhapur on Tuesday. Political pundits say Sena's decision is influenced by the coming assembly elections Maharashtra. This may spring from Sena's 2009 Lok Sabha election manifesto promised to grant Union Territory status to Belgaum if the NDA came to power at the Centre.

Sena raising the issue in places other than Belgaum may be to gain political mileage in Maharashtra. Sena leaders from Belgaum will also join the agitation today at Kolhapur.

Source: TOI

Shiv Sena seeks President's intervention in Belgaum

A delegation of Shiv Sena MPs led by former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi today called on President Pratibha Patil and urged her to declare Belgaum and its surrounding areas as Union Territory pending a final decision by the Supreme Court.

The Sena chief pointed that an amicable solution to the more than five-decade-old dispute had proved elusive despite an agitation launched by his party since 1969.
Later the Shiv Sena said its support to L K Advani as the Prime Ministerial candidate depends on the position the NDA's lead party takes on Karnataka-Maharashtra boundary dispute over Belgaum.