As a team of ruling BJD leaders was preparing to visit Chhattisgarh in two phases to collect data on the ongoing projects over Mahanadi, the CPI(M) on Saturday said the Odisha government should take all stakeholders into confidence on the Mahanadi issue.
Senior CPI(M) leader Janardan Pati said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik should take all the stakeholders into confidence to launch Odisha’s protest over the Mahanadi issue instead of making the ruling BJD stage demonstrations in the State.
The party also demanded that the government issue a White Paper without delay to bring the matters pertaining to the Mahanadi water dispute involving Chhattisgarh.
Interestingly, the BJD had announced to send a team of its leaders to the neighbouring State days after the State government cancelled the visit of a two-member expert team to Chhattisgarh to collect information about the ongoing projects.
The BJD announced that a 12-member team headed by Rajya Sabha Member Prasanna Acharya would visit different projects sites in Chhattisgarh.
The ruling party had not attended an all-party meeting that Leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra had convened in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.
