By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR:Kotia is an integral part of Odisha and not even an inch of land of Odisha will be given to anyone. This is the resolve of the Odisha Bharatiya Janata Party government. Kotia is an issue of Odisha’s integrity and integrity. While the state government is ready to move forward on this issue with all the opposition parties, former Chief Minister Nabib Babu is only trying to gain political benefits by tweeting and writing letters, said BJP State General Secretary Shri Biranchi Narayan Tripathi at a press conference held at the state office.
Mr. Tripathi said that despite being in power for 24 years, the BJD government needs to give an account to the people of Odisha for what it has done for Kotia. In 2022, the then BJD government, under the leadership of the Speaker, announced that Kotia would go to the House Committee of the Assembly. But during the BJD government, the House Committee did not show any readiness to go to Kotia. Now, while the BJD is talking about the issue of Panchayat elections in Andhra Pradesh, on February 13, 2021, when the Andhra administration held Panchayat elections in Ganjaipadar, Fatusineri, Fagunasineri and Neredibalsa of Kotia, the then BJD government completely failed to prevent it. Instead, they filed a case in the Supreme Court like Mahanadi and sat silently.
Mr. Tripathi also recalled that on November 9, 2021, when the then Andhra Chief Minister Shri Jagan Mohan Reddy came to Naveen’s residence to hold a meeting, at that time Andhra officials were committing genocide by putting up posters of Jagan Reddy in Kotia villages. At that time, the BJD government and the local administration did nothing to stop them. Mr. Tripathi has called on the people of Odisha to give Naveen Babu an answer as to why the BJD was silent.
On the other hand, when the BJP was in the opposition in Odisha, the then Union Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan visited Kotia and understood the problems of the people. The BJP government at the center had started the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and telephone connectivity work. At that time, along with the then Leader of the Opposition Shri Pradeep Naik and the then President of the Bharatiya Janata Party Shri Sameer Mohanty and all the party leaders, Shri Tripathi himself visited every village of Kotia and studied the problems of the people there and tried to instill a sense of loyalty towards Odisha.
But after the BJP formed the government in Odisha, a high-level committee has been formed under the leadership of the Hon’ble Chief Minister and the Revenue Minister to solve the Kotiya problem. The two Deputy Chief Ministers, Shri Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, Smt. Parvathi Parida and many members of the Ministry have visited Kotiya repeatedly and participated in various cultural festivals in the area. Electricity connection, Odia education, assistance under ‘Subhadra’ scheme, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, ration cards have been provided in the said area. As soon as the election talk of Andhra Pradesh came to the fore, a high-level meeting was held with the Revenue Minister, Home Secretary, Law Secretary, Advocate General, RDC and District Collector through video conferencing even on holidays and a legal and administrative strategy has been prepared.
Refuting the BJD’s propaganda that the BJP government in Odisha is silent because the Central government is dependent on Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Shri Tripathi said that since the BJD has zero votes in the Lok Sabha, they have forgotten parliamentary arithmetic. The NDA has 319 MPs in the Lok Sabha. Out of this, even after excluding 16 TDP members, the NDA has a clear majority of 303 MPs. Therefore, the BJD has given a befitting reply to its attempt to hide its 24-year inaction through such baseless propaganda and Shri Tripathi expressed hope that the people will give a befitting reply in the coming days as well. Now when Naveen is asking about Babu Kotia, the people of Odisha are demanding an answer as to what his government did for this during his tenure, Shri Tripathi said.State Spokesperson Shri Dilip Malik and State Spokesperson Shri Sanjay Rath were present at the press conference.
