Kotia dispute Patnaik slams Andhra poll notice silence

Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik has accused the Odisha government of going silent after Andhra Pradesh issued a panchayat elections notification for three disputed villages of Kotia in Koraput district. The Kotia dispute Patnaik has revived centres on Phagunasineri, Ganjeipadar and Phatusineri, villages at the heart of the border village claims made by both Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, and on whether the BJP's dependence on its NDA ally, the Telugu Desam Party, explains Bhubaneswar's muted response.

In a letter to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday, Patnaik, who is also the leader of the opposition in the Odisha Assembly, asked: "What happened to the BJP's assurances that Kotia belongs to Odisha? What makes this even more troubling is that the Telugu Desam Party, which governs Andhra Pradesh, is a crucial ally of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre." The letter is the sharpest intervention yet in the Kotia dispute Patnaik has made his own since leaving office.

He demanded to know whether "political dependence is the reason for the silence of the BJP government in Odisha and its willingness to compromise with the state's interests and territorial integrity". The Kotia dispute Patnaik flagged is decades old: both states claim rights over 21 of the 28 villages of Kotia Gram Panchayat, the matter is the subject of ongoing supreme court proceedings, and a fresh suit filed by Odisha in January 2022 is still under consideration.

Kotia dispute Patnaik links silence to BJP-TDP dependence

Patnaik also questioned the fate of the 16-member high-level Kotia Committee constituted in 2025, asking what its recommendations were and what action had been taken to implement them. He reminded the chief minister that, as chief minister himself, he had "fought all along to protect Odisha's territorial integrity", and that BJP leaders in the state had repeatedly asserted that Kotia belongs to Odisha, even raising the "Go Back Andhra" slogan.

The state government has pushed back against the opposition's charge of "double standards" and of reneging on Odisha's territorial integrity and pride. Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari said the BJP government was prepared to "thwart any provocative attempts" by TDP-ruled Andhra Pradesh over the panchayat elections notification, insisting the administration was alert to the situation on the ground.

Why the Kotia dispute Patnaik raised alarms Odisha

Kotia, a hill panchayat under Pottangi block, has been contested for decades, with Andhra Pradesh extending administrative services to residents of several settlements covered by the border village claims. The timing of the notification, with the Supreme Court seized of the matter, is what makes the development "extremely alarming" in Patnaik's telling, and the latest flashpoint in the Kotia dispute Patnaik says the state cannot afford to lose.

The BJP's 2024 manifesto promise, that a "double engine government" would resolve the Kotia issue "once and for all" and restore "Odia Swabhiman", now hangs over the controversy, with Patnaik asking whether the "Go Back Andhra" slogan was merely a gimmick to win votes.

What next in the Kotia dispute Patnaik has forced open

With supreme court proceedings on Odisha's 2022 suit yet to conclude, any panchayat elections notification acted upon by Andhra Pradesh in the three villages would deepen the administrative tangle on the ground. The Kotia dispute Patnaik has forced back into the headlines leaves the Majhi government with an uncomfortable choice: confront an ally's state government, or absorb the opposition's charge that it traded territory for coalition comfort.

For now, Bhubaneswar's answer is vigilance rather than confrontation. Whether that satisfies Odisha's voters, and the courts, will decide how long the Kotia dispute Patnaik revived stays at the top of the state's political agenda.