BJD To Move Privilege Motion Against Water Resources Minister

BHUBANESWAR: The ruling BJD on Wednesday said that it would move a privilege motion against Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Union Minister of State for Water Resources for making a misleading statement in Parliament over Mahanadi project issue.

BJD MP Nagendra Pradhan said the party would move a privilege motion in Parliament against the Minister for misleading the house.

Earlier on Wednesday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik criticized the Minister for making a false and misleading statement over the Mahanadi project issue.

“What is more unfortunate is the false and misleading statement of Mr. Balyan, Minister of State, Water Resources on the floor of Parliament yesterday,” said the Chief Minister.

Notably, Balyan had said that the central government came into the picture only about one and a half months ago after Odisha wrote formally seeking the Union government’s intervention into the issue.

“He said while the central government proposed a tripartite meeting in June, the Chhattisgarh government agreed to come.

However,  the Odisha government sought more time, he added.

Meanwhile, the central government has convened a meeting with Chhattisgarh government and Odisha government on July 29 to resolve the Mahanadi project issue.

Odisha is opposing the construction of barrages by Chhattisgarh government on the upper catchment of Mahanadi river.