A political war of words has erupted and tensions have flared up over a protracted boundary dispute, with Karnataka staking claim to 40 predominantly Kannada-speaking villages in Jat taluka in Maharashtra’s Sangli district. The residents of the villages say they have pledged their allegiance to the neighbouring State not out of a desire to maintain linguistic cohesion, but because they feel abandoned by their home State, which has done little to resolve their decades-long struggle with acute shortage of drinking water and lack of irrigation facilities.
