A decades-old border wound reopened in Odisha's political arena on Tuesday, 27 October 2026, as Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi publicly responded to a letter from Leader of the Opposition Naveen Patnaik over the long-running Kotia village cluster dispute with Andhra Pradesh — drawing a hard line on territorial integrity while calling for restraint over rhetoric.

Kotia's status: a boundary line drawn in 1936

Kotia is a cluster of villages in Koraput district whose administrative status has been contested between Odisha and Andhra Pradesh for decades. CM Majhi anchored his position in history: '୧୯୩୬ ମସିହାରେ ସ୍ୱତନ୍ତ୍ର ପ୍ରଦେଶ ଗଠନ ହେବା ଦିନଠାରୁ କୋରାପୁଟର କୋଟିଆ ଗ୍ରାମପୁଞ୍ଜ ଆମ ଓଡ଼ିଶାର ଏକ ଅବିଚ୍ଛେଦ୍ୟ ଅଙ୍ଗ' ['Since the day the separate province was formed in 1936, Kotia village cluster of Koraput has been an inseparable part of our Odisha']. The argument is historical bedrock: Odisha was constituted as a separate province on 1 April 1936, and the state has maintained ever since that Kotia's boundary was settled at that founding moment.

India carries multiple such unresolved inter-state boundary disputes — most rooted in the linguistic reorganisation of states in the 1950s and in earlier British-era provincial demarcations. The Kotia dispute is one of the most persistent, with successive Odisha governments pursuing the matter through the Supreme Court while simultaneously asserting administrative presence in the area.

Two tracks: courts and a high-level committee

Majhi made clear his government is not relying on litigation alone. He announced the formation of a high-level committee chaired by the Revenue Minister to drive 'social, economic and basic infrastructure development' across the Kotia cluster — a dual-track approach that keeps the legal challenge alive while deepening Odisha's on-ground footprint in the villages. No compromise, he stated flatly, on 'the state's territorial integrity and the legitimate interests of its people.'

Majhi's message to Patnaik: restraint, not rhetoric

The post is also a pointed political moment. Naveen Patnaik — who governed Odisha for 24 consecutive years before his BJP-backed defeat in 2024 — had written to Majhi on the Kotia issue. Majhi's public reply is measured but unmistakably firm. He called on all parties to show 'restraint, responsibility and respect for the judicial process', and warned against converting a 'sensitive inter-state issue' into political capital.

That framing turns the exchange back on Patnaik: the subtext being that the party which governed Odisha through most of the dispute's active phase should tread carefully before demanding action now. Yet Majhi simultaneously left a door open — 'Constructive, constitutional proposals in Odisha's interest will always receive sincere consideration.' It is a statesman's hedge, and a savvy one.

What comes next for Kotia

Eyes will now turn to the Supreme Court and its further orders in the pending litigation, and to whether the Revenue Minister-led committee produces visible development work in the villages — the clearest signal the state can send about whose authority actually runs in Kotia. For residents of a cluster caught between two state governments, that last point is the only one that lands on the ground.