Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti leaders shifted the Maha Melava protest rally out of Belagavi, after authorities declined permission for it. The rally was held instead in Shinoli village in Kolhapur district in Maharashtra, around 20 km from Belagavi city.
MES activists took out a protest rally from Shinoli village to the Belagavi border, where they were stopped by police from both states. This angered the activists who strongly criticised police officers from Karnataka and Maharashtra. Vijay Devni, Shiv Sena leader from Kolhapur, accused the Maharashtra police of stopping them for political reasons. “When we are fighting for the cause of Maharashtra, why are you stopping us?,’‘ he asked. He also criticised the Maharashtra government for failing to support their agitation saying that it had not deputed any senior leader for the rally.
In the morning, some MES leaders visited the martyr’s memorial near Hindalga village in the outskirts of Belagavi. They shouted slogans in favour of MES and vowed to fight till all Marathi-speaking areas including Bhalki, Bidar, Nippani and Belagavi, were merged with Maharashtra.
On Sunday, the organisers were given an ultimatum by police officers including commissioner S.N. Sidramappa and Assistant Commissioner of Police Narayan Baramani. The commissioner, who is also the additional district magistrate, issued prohibitory orders under CrPC 144. Mr. Baramani visited the leaders who were preparing to hold a rally in Vaccine Depot Grounds and warned them that legal action would be taken against them if they violated prohibitory orders.
