Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Friday said his party would not demand the Union Territory status for border areas in Karnataka if the government in that state treated the local Marathi-speaking population fairly.

After Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray demanded that disputed areas in Karnataka's border region, which Maharashtra has been claiming, be declared as a UT pending the Supreme Court's decision, some leaders in the southern state hit back saying that Mumbai be made a UT.