Statement Of PM On Mahanadi Grossly Unfortunate: BJD

Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Sunday termed the statement of prime minister Narendra Modi on Mahanadi issue as ‘grossly unfortunate’.

“Whatever the prime minister had said in his address at the Jana Kalyan Samavesh in Cuttack on Saturday is fallacious, misleading and confusing. For the people of Odisha, there was no compliment in his speech except confusion,” senior BJD leader and Rajya Sabha member Prasanna Acharya said.

Stating that the suggestion by the then Union Water Resources minister Nitin Gadkari, in a letter to the chief minister Naveen Patnaik, for formation of a tribunal to resolve the Mahanadi as stated by the prime minister in his speech, was utterly unfortunate, Acharya said the hearing of Mahanadi issue was underway in the Supreme Court by the time Gadkari took charge the Water Resources portfolio.

“It seems that the prime minister, without crosschecking the facts, had given his statement on this sensitive issue,” he added.

The BJD leader further said the Centre, which is yet to pass the unitary tribunal bill in the parliament, has been forced to form the Mahanadi Tribunal following the directive of the Supreme Court.

Countering Acharya’s statement, BJD state unit president Basant Panda said the prime minister has dealt a solid blow to the government that has done nothing for the development of irrigation during its 19-year tenure in power.

Referring to the Mahanadi issue, Panda said the Centre has always shown its keenness on resolving the issue.

Replying to the suggestion by Gadkari to the chief minister on the formation of a unitary tribunal, he said the purpose was to complete the work of all the pending projects much before the schedule. “From this point of view, whatever the prime minister had said is right,” the BJP leader said.

On the other hand, the Congress has said the visit of the prime minister to the state is disappointing,

“The prime minister neither said about his plans for the state nor gave the details about the works the Centre has done for the state so far,” said senior Congress leader, Narasingh Mishra.

He further said the assurance that Modi had given to the people to bring back the black money, has turned out to be a damp squib.