Bangalore, Sept. 25: Karnataka today shifted an Assembly session to Belgaum to underline its claim to the border town that Maharashtra wants for itself.

The pro-merger local groups, with Mumbai’s support, replied with gusto. The Maharashtra Ekikarna Samithi held a parallel meeting in Belgaum, attended by its two MLAs who had walked out of the special Assembly session.

The never-before move to shift a House session out of Bangalore’s stately Vidhana Soudha came after the Centre withdrew its pro-Karnataka affidavit before the Supreme Court, which is hearing Maharashtra’s claim to Belgaum and other Marathi-speaking areas in Karnataka.

Karnataka’s Opposition Congress leaders — at the receiving end because of the Centre’s move — privately conceded that chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s gambit of holding a five-day session in Belgaum had been a masterstroke.

Officially, the party alleged that the move violated legislative rules and procedures, and submitted a notice for a privilege motion against the Janata Dal (Secular)-BJP government.

But higher education minister D.H. Shankaramurthy, said the state government was committed to making a permanent arrangement for splitting House sessions between Bangalore and Belgaum.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister R.R. Patil, who is from the Nationalist Congress Party, attended the Samithi meeting. He said his government would continue to support the pro-merger agitation.