 Ironically, the decision to hold the legislative session at Belgaum was taken by the previous Dharam Singh government, when Congress was in power.On the same day of the Assembly session, the MES organised a "mahamelava" ("The Great Meet-up"), which received a huge response.The "mahamelava" was attended by the Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister, R. R. Patil and many leaders from Shiv Sena, NCP and MES.