Has the Maharashtra-Karnataka border row become an albatross for BJP?

New Delhi: The Maharashtra-Karnataka border row seems to have become an albatross for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in both states.

The tensions between the two states have escalated over Maharashtra's claim on Belagavi and some other border areas in Karnataka, which have sizeable Marathi-speaking population.

Since its creation on May 1, 1960, Maharashtra has claimed that as many as 865 villages, including Belgaum, Nipani and Karwar, in Karnataka should be merged into it. 

Karnataka has rejected Maharashtra's claim with chief minister Basavaraj Bommai countering that some villages in Sangli district have sought merger with his state. He also demanded that the Kannada-speaking villages in Akkalkot and Solapur in Maharashtra should be merged with Karnataka. There is also a demand that Mumbai be made part of Karnataka and until that happens it should be declared a Union Territory.

Home minister Amit Shah has tried to broker peace between the two states, ruled by the BJP. He asked the two states to wait for the Supreme Court's verdict on the issue.

The Shiv Sena faction, led by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are at the forefront of this agitation.

The challenge for the BJP leadership was to strike a balance between the two states. It cannot afford to take sides given that Karnataka goes to polls in some months in March-April next year.

The assembly elections in Maharashtra are due in November 2024.

The immediate concern for the BJP leadership is to ensure that the border row doesn't snowball into a major issue and contain the damage ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka. A war of words has also erupted between the Karnataka chief minister and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The ruling party is already facing the problem of plenty in the southern state with Lingayat strongman and former chief minister BS Yediyurappa showing signs of dissent. He is upset with the BJP high command over his removal from the chief minister's post and subsequently being sidelined in the party.

In Maharashtra, the Uddhav faction of the Shiv Sena seems to have seized the opportunity and taken a lead on the issue. It has galvanised the opposition and visibly put the government on the mat.

Uddhav Thackeray too attacked his successor and chief minister Eknath Shinde, saying he has no courage to speak against his Karnataka counterpart.

He also wondered if these villages would be given to Karnataka before the assembly elections just like some businesses shifted from Maharashtra to Gujarat before the just-concluded polls in that state.

Along with the border row, the Shiv Sena and the NCP have also upped the ante against the government over the remarks of governor BS that Maratha ruler Shivaji was an icon of the past while Maharashtra has new icons such as BR Ambedkar and Nitin Gadkari. He later regretted his remarks, which gave enough ammunition to the BJP's political rivals to attack it.

The opposition parties and some Maratha outfits and even BJP's Rajya Sabha member and a descendant of King Shivaji, Udayanraje Bhonsale, have sought his ouster.

As of now, the two issues have given an edge to the Shiv Sena in its fight against the ruling side, comprising its rebel leaders and the BJP. But it remains to be seen how long the opposition will retain the advantage over the government on these issues.