Niranjan Optimistic Of Resolving Mahanadi Row With Chhattisgarh

Bhubaneswar: Senior Congress leader and president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik on Tuesday exuded hope that his party would be able to resolve the ongoing Mahanadi river water dispute with the Chhattisgarh government.

Briefing mediapersons at the Congress Bhawan here after attending the oath-taking ceremony of the new Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel of the Congress in Raipur, Patnaik said he had an informal discussion on the Mahanadi issue with the latter who has shown positive response.

Maintaining that the BJD and the BJP have created unnecessary confusion over the Mahanadi issue, the OPCC president said his party will have another round of meeting with the Chhattisgarh government very soon.

Asked about the prospects of his party in the forthcoming Assembly elections, he hoped that the outcome of the Assembly elections in the neighbouring state will be repeated in Odisha. “The Congress does what it says,” he said.

To a question on the Assembly poll campaign in Odisha by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Patnaik said the Congress will be benefited from his campaign. “Since the BJP has lost 70 seats in the recently concluded Assembly elections in the five states where the Prime Minister had campaigned, it will be better if he revs up the campaign for his party in Odisha,” he quipped.