Mumbai: Shiv Sena on Saturday took exception to the renaming of Karnataka’s Belgaum district to Belagavi and said that the BJP leaders of Maharashtra need to take up the issue with Prime Minister.

Maharashtra is locked in a dispute with Karnataka and wants Marathi-speaking areas of Belgaum to be merged with it. A few years ago, the Maharashtra Legislature passed a resolution seeking declaration of the disputed areas in Belgaum as Union Territory till the Supreme Court takes a final decision on the matter.

“Had it happened a few days before, we would have made it a poll issue. But they have carefully announced the decisions after voting had taken place,” said Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut, who is the party spokesperson and executive editor of Saamana, the mouthpiece of the Sena.

Insult of a decision

“The matter is pending in the Supreme Court. The decision is an insult to the Supreme Court and democracy,” he said. “The BJP leadership in Maharashtra should take up the issue with the prime minister and we all will join them,” he said.

On Friday, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh gave his approval to the proposal of the Karnataka government made on October 27, 2006, to change the names of 12 towns and cities in Karnataka in consonance with their pronunciation in Kannada language.