Andhra Pradesh’s Panchayat Poll Announcement Puts Odisha’s BJP Govt In A Spot

The Mohan Charan Majhi-led government in Odisha now faces a new dilemma. There is no settlement on the territorial dispute with Andhra Pradesh has been reached even after BJP came to power in the state three years back. The territorial dispute relates to Kotia villages which has been historically recognised as part of Odisha since 1936. Resolving the territorial dispute with Andhra was the poll promises of the BJP. Now it is learnt that Andhra Pradesh has announced Panchayat Elections date for three villages in the controversial Kotia will be held on November 3. This festering issue has now rekindled the decades-long territorial claim against Odisha, for which a solution has not been found even at the Supreme Court level. While historically Kotia was recognized as a part of Odisha since 1936, the region has been contested by Andhra Pradesh since 1971. Can the Odisha government resolve the issue without escalating into inter-state conflict? Odisha’s Opposition party Biju Janata Dal led by Naveen Patnaik has targeted CM Majhi for his failure to resolve the issue.