Bhubaneswar: Andhra Pradesh on Monday got a new map with 13 new districts, taking the total number of districts in the state to 26. Earlier, the state had 13 districts.
The move is in line with a promise Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy made during the 2019 Assembly elections that if voted to power, he would make every Lok Sabha constituency a district.
Only, the redrawn map has stoked a fresh controversy over the Kotia region in Koraput district on the Odisha-Andhra border. With Andhra also staking claim to Kotia, both states are locked in a long-running dispute over the region.
And Andhra’s new map has further fuelled the Kotia fire. The redrawn map, with 26 districts, shows 28 villages in the Kotia region as part of Andhra.
The new Andhra districts are Parvathipuram Manyam, Alluri Sitharama Raju, Anakapalli, Kakinada, Kona Seema, Eluru, NTR, Bapatla, Palnadu, Nandyal, Sri Satyasai, Annamayyia and Tirupati.
The 28 villages and 12 other areas of the Kotia region are shown in the Parvatipuram Manyam district.
According to Andhra government’s plans, with the creation of Parvatipuram Manyam, the bordering Parbatipuram town will act as the new headquarters of the Kotia region.
“The move indicates Andhra’s interest in the Kotia region. We have repeatedly told the Odisha government to form a development council in Kotia and launch special schemes to keep Andhra in check,” former Koraput Collector Gadadhar Parida was quoted as saying by a news portal.
“There is a conspiracy behind the formation of the new district. The move aims to woo the residents of the region,” former MP Jayram Pangi told the news portal.
