A day after BJP national president Amit Shah visited the State and asked party leaders to work sincerely for success in the panchayat polls prior to the next lok Sabha and Assembly elections, senior party leader Bijay Mohapatra on Saturday said he was not informed about the Shah’s visit.
Asked about Shah’s Friday visit on Friday by mediapersons, Mohapatra said, “Neither I had any information about his visit and nor any leader of the party has discussed about the visit with me”.
Mohapatra’s statement is yet another clear indication of serious differences between him and the party’s State and Central leaderships.
Earlier too, Mohapatra had skipped Shah’s public meeting held in Bhubaneswar in November last. On the Mahanadi water dispute too, Mohapatra embarrassed the Modi Government at the Centre and the State party leadership when he said the Negotiation Committee formed by the Union Water Resources Ministry cannot resolve the row between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
“There was no need for the Water Resources Ministry to form a Negotiation Committee. A far as I know, the decision to be taken by the committee will in no way resolve the Mahanadi issue. I don’t know why the committee was formed as no State will abide by its decision,” Mohapatra, adding that only a tribunal is the answer for the inter-State dispute.