The party has so far refrained from criticising Singh while blaming the Odisha government for not putting downstream waters of the river to good use.’His remarks are deplorable. Our stand on Mahanadi is clear. We will not compromise on Odisha’s interests over the Mahanadi issue’, Pradhan told a media conference here today.
The Chhattisgarh Chief minister had recently said his state had exclusive rights over the Mahanadi river as most of the catchment area were under its possession.
Livid over the statement, the BJD had termed it as Chhattisgarh’s ‘ dadagiri’ while vowing to fight till the state got its share of the river water.
Pradhan maintained that the BJP had always favoured a tribunal to sort out the issue. He, however, admitted that the construction of barrages on the river by the neighbouring state was illegal.
‘It’s now up to the tribunal to pull them up if they have committed any wrongs’, the Union minister said.
He also lashed out at the ruling BJD for doing precious little to put to use the downstream water most of which flows into the sea.
‘What was the government doing for 18 years? They haven’t been able to conserve even a bucket of water that flows into the sea’, the minister said.
Reacting to Pradhan’s statement, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb quipped that the BJP had finally spoken the truth. He attributed the softening of BJPs stance to the success of the Mahanadi abhiyan launched by his party. ”They are rattled’, Deb said.
He also berated Prime Minister Modi for furnishing misleading information about the tribunal during his recent rally at Cuttack.
