Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee calls for bandh as BJP, BJD spar on Mahanadi

Bhubaneshwar: As the BJD and BJP in Odisha blame each other for the ongoing Mahanadi river water crisis, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik on Saturday said that his party would shortly call for a state-wide bandh for the cause of Mahanadi.

Mr Patnaik, while speaking to reporters here, accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of supporting Chhattisgarh government which has been unilaterally buildings barrages on the Mahanadi, restricting water flow to Odisha, a co-basin state located downstream the river.

“It was expected that Prime Minister in his Cuttack meeting on May 26 would assure people of Odisha that he would ask Chhattisgarh government to stop constructions on the river. But no such assurance came from him. The NDA government at the Centre is blindingly supporting Chhattisgarh as it ruled by BJP. We will shortly call for a statewide bandh. The date for the bandh call will be announced soon,” said Mr Patnaik.

Turning heat on the Odisha’s ruling BJD headed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik, the OPCC president said it did nothing to protect the interests of the people of the state till 2015 when Chhattisgarh government was busy in raising barrages on the Mahanadi and was now shedding crocodile tears.

Reacting to OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik’s statements, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb stated, “It seems that Congress changes its ideologies whenever there is a change of guard. The party under the leadership of Niranjan Patnaik’s predecessor Prasad Harichandan was completely mum on the issue. Now that the BJD is raising the Mahanadi issue very strongly, - the Congress has just jumped on the bandwagon to reap some political dividends.”

BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra on the other hand stated that all the barrages and dam projects on Mahanadi were taken up by Chhattisgarh during UPA regime.

“Congress is the walking stick of ruling BJD. It was only after NDA-led BJP government came to power in 2014 that it wrote to Odisha whether Chhattisgarh had obtained approvals or not. Congress should first answer the people of the State,” said Mr Mohapatra.