Bhubaneswar: The Opposition parties in Odisha Thursday attacked the state government over its weak stand on the Kotia controversy and paddy procurement issue.
Following the delivery of the Governor’s speech in the Assembly, the Congress and the BJP claimed that several important issues did not find place in the Governor’s address to the House.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Pradipta Naik said that the government claims that all is well in the paddy procurement process, but the BJP objected to such claims.
“In many mandis, paddy stocks have not been lifted. The token system is not working properly. We have raised the demand in the House. We have objected to the Governor’s speech on the same,” Naik said.
“We also spoke on the Kotia issue and tried to raise other issues concerning the people there. The Andhra Pradesh government has been intruding into Odisha and holding gram panchayat elections there without any opposition by our government,” he said.
Congress leader Narasinhga Mishra said that Andhra Pradesh had forcibly captured Kotia and exerted power there under the nose of the government.
“They have also conducted elections there and sarpanchs from the area have also been selected. Those issues were not mentioned in the speech of the Governor,” he said.
Notably, the Andhra Pradesh government has submitted its response in the contempt plea filed by the Odisha government against the neighbouring state for alleged violation of status quo in the disputed Kotia region of Koraput district stating that it has taken over certain villages belonging to Odisha.
After the apex court served a notice to AP to file a response in this regard, the district Collector of Vizianagaram in AP, through an affidavit, stated that there is no question of contempt by Andhra Pradesh as no direction was passed by the court.
PNN
