Koraput: Kotia is of Odisha and there can be no second opinion on that asserted senior BJP leader and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today.
“All villages of Kotia are of Odisha and there can be no second opinion on that. Kotia is of Odisha, it is an eternal truth like the sun, the moon and the wind. Anyone who ever is claiming it is committing a wrong. Be it any state or administrator who is fixing signages in Telugu language, fixing pictures of leaders of any other state in our land–Utkala Pradesh are doing wrong,” said Pradhan during his visit to Kotia panchayat in Koraput district to observe Utkal Dibasa today.
He said, “Today we 4.5 crore Odias need to take a pledge to protect and secure our state’s boundary both geographically and culturally”.
He added that in 2018 he had visited Kotia with the same resolution and today he felt blessed to visit again on the auspicious occasion of Utkala Dibasa.
The Union Minister today visited Phatu Seneri village in Kotia gram panchayat under Pottangi block in Koraput district and observed Utkal Dibasa with the villagers.
Apart from offering his tributes to the great leaders who aspired and gave us the first separate state on a linguistic basis in 1936, Pradhan sang Odisha’s state anthem ‘Bande Utkala Janani’ with the villagers.
He visited schools, health care centres, post offices, Aadima Gurukul Ashram, and temples among other places in the area.