Mumbai: A day after Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi demanded that Mumbai be made part of his state,

Mumbai belongs to Maharashtra and it will always remain its part, said Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

Reacting on the remarks of Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, Laxman Savadi, the NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) leader talking to media persons on Wednesday said, “He took the name of Mumbai to appease people of Karnataka after Chief Minister Uddhav Maharashtra made the remark. “Mumbai was ours yesterday, is ours today and will be ours always. Nobody can alter this. Thus, there is no necessity to pay attention to what he (Savadi) said,” he added.

Ajit Pawar’s statement comes after, Deputy CM of Karnataka Laxman Savadi on Wednesday had said Mumbai should be made part of Karnataka and requested the central government to declare it a Union Territory until then.

It is believed that Savadi’s remark came as a counter-remark to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. CM of Maharashtra recently stated that areas dominated by Marathi-speaking people on the state's border with Karnataka should be called a Union Territory till the Supreme Court gives its final decision on the issue.