The Karnataka police on Wednesday detained eight people for trying to hoist ‘Uttara Karnataka flag’ in Hirebagewadi, Belagavi, reports ANI.
Reportedly, few protestors tried to host in a village near Hirebagewadi in Belagavi district. However, the police soon arrived at the spot and stopped these protestors from hoisting flags demanding a separate Uttara Karnataka state.
Separate State Struggle Committee Chairman Adeva Itagi and Secretary Srikanth Madhubaramannarawa have been arrested by the Belagavi police.
The illegal hoisting of the Uttar Karnataka flag comes at a time when tensions are high between Karnataka and neighbouring Maharashtra over the border issue with protests taking place on both sides leading to the cancellation of bus services between the two states.
The decades-old dispute over Belagavi escalated in the city on Sunday after protestors burnt an effigy of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, following which Shiv Sena workers had launched a protest near the Kolhapur bus stand on Sunday and burnt an effigy of Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa.
The long-standing border dispute between the two states is pending before the Supreme Court for several years. Maharashtra continues to claim over 865 villages along the border including the Belgaum city, which are currently part of Karnataka. Successive governments in Maharashtra have demanded their inclusion within the state. However, Karnataka has contested these claims.