Koshal state only if Orissa wants: Advani

Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani on Tuesday said that the Centre could consider the demand for creation of a separate Koshal state only if the Orissa Assembly passed a resolution in this regard. ‘‘A consensus is needed in this matter,’’ he told reporters here on Tuesday morning. Advani said that considerable development had taken place in the Koraput-Bolangir-Kalahandi (KBK) region in the last six years of NDA rule. While the Kalahandi region was synonymous with poverty earlier, Advani said ‘‘things have greatly changed’’.