BJP steps up attack on BJD over Kotia issue; BJD says Opposition doing high drama 

The Odisha Assembly on Friday witnessed uproarious scenes with the members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress creating ruckus over Kotia issue. 

During the Zero Hour in the Assembly, leader of opposition (LoP), Jayanarayan Mishra raised the Kotia issue. He said the Andhra Pradesh government has been wrongfully trespassing into Kotia and interfering in 21 other villages. 

“Andhra Pradesh continues to trespass into Kotia region. The villages bordering Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal also wish to merge with their neighbouring States. Specifically, the district Collector of Parvathipuram in Andhra Pradesh has been visiting Kotia region time and again and creating awareness among the people about the schemes of Andhra Pradesh government. Similarly, their Deputy Chief Minister has also been visiting regularly. But, the Odisha government has been a mute spectator to all these happenings,” said Mishra. 

“Our Chief Minister had announced a special package for the region. I wanted to know the present status of the announcement. And most importantly, the Chief Minister has not visited the disputed area even once. He has time to visit Japan but not Kotia,” Mishra added. Mishra also wanted to know about steps the government has taken with respect to the disputes with other states. 

Senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra too targeted the government over the Kotia issue. 

In its response, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) said the Opposition party is only doing high drama over the Kotia issue. 

“I want to ask the LoP and his party that they have eight MPs and three Ministers. They are in power for the last nine years. But they have not, even for once, taken up the matter with either the Prime Minister or the Home Minister. In case of inter-state disputes, the Central government plays a major role in resolving the dispute. So I want to tell them that they should visit Delhi and meet the Prime Minister and the Home Minister and try their level best to end the inter-State dispute,” said BJD MLA  Arun Sahoo.