BHUBANESWAR: A BJD delegation comprising senior leaders, which visited Kotia gram panchayat on Friday, claimed to have found workers of the YSR Congress Party campaigning in Fatusineri village for the rural polls being held by Andhra Pradesh.
A release issued by the BJD here stated that when the delegation opposed the campaigning, the YSRCP workers left the village. The BJD demanded that the incident involving election campaigning should be investigated and legal action should be taken wherever violations of the law are established.
The party alleged that the Odisha administration has not responded despite Andhra Pradesh’s election process continuing in the region. The state government should immediately deploy police personnel in the area and strengthen surveillance along the border. Responsible administrative officers should be posted in Kotia and firm measures should be taken to protect the people of Odisha and the state’s borders, it added.
The BJD stated that there can be no greater humiliation for Odisha if the Kotia issue cannot be resolved despite having a triple-engine government.
The delegation held discussions with residents of Fatusineri, Neredivalasa, Ganjeipadar and other villages. The team included MLA Manohar Randhari, former ministers Jagannath Saraka and Rabinarayan Nanda, former MPs Jhinna Hikaka and Pradeep Majhi and BJD senior general secretary Bhrugu Baxipatra.