Koraput: The decades-old Kotia border dispute sparked a fresh political slugfest on Friday, with law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan accusing the previous BJD govt of failing to effectively pursue legal remedies. BJD countered, saying the BJP govt was misrepresenting the legal position and had failed to protect Odisha’s interests in the disputed region.Harichandan questioned the steps taken by BJD during its 24 years in power and claimed the previous govt had failed to properly pursue the matter before Supreme Court. “I am asking the opposition party, which ruled the state for 24 years, what they were doing when the legal options were open. They lost their case in the Supreme Court because of negligence. They lost the review petition as well, and the curative petition was also dismissed. What were these people doing?” Harichandan asked.BJD leader Lenin Mohanty rejected the allegations and accused the BJP govt of misleading the people. “Odisha had never lost the case in Supreme Court. The govt has failed to stop people of Kotia from going to Andhra Pradesh and casting their votes,” Mohanty said.