BHUBANESWAR: Politics over Mahanadi river water intensified in the State with the BJD on Monday announcing its decision to stop all goods trains in every station in Odisha for half an hour on August 3 in protest against the construction activities of Chhattisgarh Government.
The party also announced that all Chhattisgarh bound goods trains will be stopped on the same day as a mark of protest. The BJD has announced its agitation on a day when Congress has convened an all party meeting to discuss the Mahanadi river water dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
BJD activists will also start a relay hunger strike in front of the office of the Central Water Commission (CWC) over the issue on August 3, Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra, chairman of the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) Kishore Kumar Mohanty and party spokesperson Pratap Deb announced at a joint media conference here.
The BJD leaders rejected the all party meeting convened by the Congress on August 3. The CWC had approved the Kelo project when Congress was in power at the Centre, said the three leaders and asked what the Congress leaders were doing at that time.
Describing both Congress and BJP as anti-Odisha, the BJD leaders said the Centre had provided funds to Polavaram project during the UPA regime while the BJP-led NDA Government gave it national project status. The leaders also announced that the party will announce a fact finding team to visit Chhattisgarh on August 5.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Narasingh Mishra said he convened the all party meeting when Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik did not respond to the proposal. He said all political parties have been invited to the all party meeting to discuss the issue and find out a solution.
The BJP has decided to attend the all party meeting, party MLA Pradip Purohit said. A delegation, including Leader of the BJP Legislature party KV Singhdeo, party MLAs Rabi Nayak and Purohit, State BJP vice-president Sameer Mohanty and general secretary Bhrugu Buxipatra, will attend the meeting.