Pottangi: The Andhra Pradesh government has deplored Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s visit Saturday to the disputed Kotia region. It said that as per the Supreme Court directive for maintaining the status quo in the region, Pradhan’s visit was uncalled for. Andhra Deputy Chief Minister P Rajanna Dora found fault with Pradhan’s visit to the disputed region and his statement that Kotia cluster of villages is an integral part of Odisha.
Dora reminded Pradhan that the latter represents the entire country and should refrain from making such statements. “We need to obey the apex court’s order to maintain status quo till the issue is resolved,” Dora told the media in Saluru in ParvatipuramManyam district late Sunday evening. At the time of formation of the Parvatipuram-Manyam district last year, the government had shown 21 villages in the Kotia region on the map of Andhra Pradesh.
A day after Pradhan’s visit to the disputed area along with five BJP MLAs from Odisha, Parvatipuram-Manyam District Collector Nishant Kumar and SP Vidya Sagar Naidu were closely monitoring the situation in the Kotia region. Naidu later said that community policing was being accorded top priority in the region. The Andhra Pradesh government is likely to depute a team of officials to the region to undertake more welfare activities in the villages, Andhra government sources said. During his visit to Kotia gram panchayat Saturday on the occasion of ‘Utkal Divas’, Pradhan had taken exception to the presence of Andhra Pradesh officials and had asked them to leave. Expressing his annoyance over the presence of AP police officials, the Union Minister asked them to leave as their presence within Odisha borders ‘is not solicited’. “Why are you all here? The Kotia panchayat belongs to Odisha.
Please go back. Go back to Andhra,” Pradhan told the Andhra Pradesh officials. He then raised the ‘Bande Utkal Janani’ slogan as locals gathered to take it to a feverish pitch forcing the Andhra officials and cops to beat a quick retreat. Pradhan’s action has evoked sharp reaction from the leaders of various political parties in Andhra Pradesh. Lok Satta Party state president B Babji demanded the dismissal of Pradhan from the Union Cabinet as his visit to the village was in violation of the apex court ruling.
A total of 21 tribal hamlets located in the area known as Kotia cluster of villages have been a bone of contention between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh since 1956. Pradhan had last visited Kotia in 2018 and had written to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in September 2021 to resolve the border dispute through talks with his counterpart in Odisha. This was followed by a meeting of the two Chief Ministers in January last year.
