With the Mahanadi river water dispute and Polavaram projects likely to emerge as the twin major issue in Odisha in the general election next year, the ruling BJD today formed a four-member steering committee to decide the further course of action to put pressure on the Centre, the party's state secretary Bijay Nayak.
BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today appointed Rajya Sabha MPs Prasanna Acharya and Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, BJD MLA Debi Prasad Mishra and former union minister Chandra Sekhar Sahu as the members of the committee, he said.
The steering committee will also decide the course of action of the party on the twin issues, which the regional party, in power for 18 years, believes could benefit it in the next general election.
Odisha has been opposing the construction of projects on the upstream of river Mahanadi by Chhattishgarh government and also demanded a stop of the Polavaram multi-purpose project in Andhdra Pradesh.
The ruling BJD has been alleging that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre is responsible for the "illegal work" of both Chhattishgarh and Andhra Pradesh govenrment.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in missives to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has demanded a stop to the work in both the projects saying they were being developed at the "cost of Odisha's interest".
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