Bhubaneswar, Dec 13 (IANS) The demand for a separate Kosala state, to be carved out of Orissa, has picked up momentum following the central government’s decision to pave the way for the birth of a Telangana state.
The Kosala Kranti Dal, a political party which has been demanding separate statehood for 11 western districts of Orissa, has threatened to launch a massive agitation to press its demand.

The districts are Bargarh, Bolangir, Boudh, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nuapada, Sambalpur, Subarnapur and Sundergarh.

Known as the Kosala region, these districts suffer from poverty and backwardness, deaths due to malnutrition and high infant mortality rate.

“We will collect one lakh signatures by the end of January and submit a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil,” its president Pramod Mishra told IANS.

He also said that his party would undertake long marches and rail blockades.

“The central acceptance of Telangana state has given us a moral boost,” Balgopal Mishra, a leader of the Kosala movement and a former member of the state legislative assembly, told IANS.