Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday briefed representatives of eight political parties about the discussion at the tripartite meeting held between him, his Chhattisgarh Counterpart Raman Singh and Union Water Resourced Minister Uma Bharti in New Delhi on September 17.
The representatives who met the Chief Minister at the Secretariat are CPM’s Janardan Pati, CPI’s Dibakar Nayak, Samajwadi Party’s Rabi Behera, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Harish Mohapatra, Forward Bloc’s Jyotiranjan Mohapatra, CPI (Ml)’s Ashok Pradhan, SUCI’s Dhurjati Das and Amiya Jena, Swabhimani Manch’s lalit Patnaik, Aagami Odisha’s Sudarsan Das. Representatives of Trikonabhumi Unnayan parishad, Athmallik Nagarik Samaj and Odisha Engineers’ Association too met the CM.
“The eight political parties have strongly supported the State Government’s stance on Mahanadi” said a CMO release, adding that the Chief Minister thanked them all for their earlier suggestions and assured them that he would continue to fight for protection of Odisha’s right over Mahandi water.
Meanwhile, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said Mahanadi issue can be resolved though discussions while the Union Government has already assured that flow of water, mentioned in 1950 agreement, would never be lessened.
“The Narendra Modi Government has assured for normal flow of water in Mahanadi. The State Government has the right to go to the Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal,” he said responding to a media query.