Pottangi: The Andhra Pradesh government is persisting with its efforts to woo the residents of Kotia panchayat under this block in Koraput district. The latest initiative has been launched by the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). Its workers are regularly imploring the residents of Kotia panchayat to vote for their party. Not only that, YSR Congress is ferrying Kotia residents to their party meetings on the other side of the border. Sources informed that the issue of Kotia residents participating in the electoral meetings in Andhra came to the fore recently.
YSRCP candidate, Peedika Rajanna Dora from Salur Assembly constituency arranged for buses so that people from Kotia panchayat could participate in a meeting organised by him at a village close to the Odisha-Andhra border. People from Uparsembi, Dhulipadar, Neredibalsa and Tadibalsa villages under Kotia panchayat attended the meeting. Incidentally, Andhra claims these villages as its own. During his speech, Dora appealed to the residents of Kotia panchayat to vote for YSRCP. However, the issue to note here is that residents of Kotia reciprocated the appeals by Dora. They sang a song prepared for the occasion in praise of Dora and the Andhra Pradesh government.
After the meeting, Dora personally met the Kotia residents and asked them whether they were happy with the development work. He urged them to vote for him and promised development work will continue if he is re-elected. He also told the villagers that the Odisha government will not do anything for their villages and only the Andhra administration is willing to help them. The villagers also assured him of their votes. The question is how will Odia villagers vote for the YSR Congress Party candidate. Sources informed that many of the residents in the disputed villages have two voter identity cards and two Aadhaar cards belonging to both states. They utilise the documents according to their needs.
Sources added that as it is difficult to identify people with documents of both the states, the villagers take full advantage of it. Sources also pointed out that the Andhra Pradesh government is trying to woo voters in all the 21 disputed villages under Kotia panchayat. They added that it has already prepared a blueprint to prove to the Supreme Court that Kotia panchayat is within its boundaries and not in Odisha.
Meanwhile, local officials here said that they are keeping a close watch on the situation. They said steps will be taken to prevent Odia voters from casting their votes in Andhra.