Bhubaneswar: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held the Odisha government responsible for the ongoing Mahanadi water dispute in Cuttack, ruling BJD today called the PM’s statement “untrue, misleading and confusing”.
BJD vice president Prasanna Acharya said Modi made the remark on Mahanadi row only to confuse people.
“The Prime Minister yesterday confused people and his statement shows no commitment. What he said regarding the tribunal is sad and surprising. His statement is contradictory. Everyone knows it is the Odisha government who initially proposed to form a tribunal,” Acharya pointed out.”
The PM during his public meeting on Saturday, said that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had talked to the Odisha government to resolve the Mahanadi water issue, but the State did not cooperate.
“Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had talked to the State government during hearing of the Mahanadi case at the Supreme Court and said that the Centre was bringing out a bill on single tribunal for all inter-state water issue in the Parliament and that the Mahanadi water dispute should be referred to the tribunal. But the bill has only been introduced in the Lok Sabha and is yet to be passed in the Parliament. Modi’s statement was an attempt to mislead people by presenting false information,”Acharya claimed.
Refuting the allegations, BJP State President, Basant Panda said, “The ones who failed to provide irrigation facilities to farmers, are now shedding crocodile tears. PM Narendra Modi has given a tight slap on the face of such people. In federal structure, water is a state issue and the Centre does not have much role to play.”
Begging to differ, senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra said, “Mahanadi is a sensitive issue and has become a talking point in the State. But the people of Odisha failed to get a desired response from the PM.”
“Everyone was expecting that Odisha will get justice after a tribunal is formed. However, there is very little chance of its functioning within next six months,”said Mohapatra.
Prasanta Patnaik