Bhubaneswar, June 13: The UPA government at the Centre and BJD-BJP government in Orissa are at loggerheads once again — this time, over the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy.

Yesterday, while announcing the revision of MSP to Rs 850 per quintal, Union finance minister P. Chidambaram said a few states, including Orissa, had recommended an MSP stated at Rs 850 per quintal.

Refuting Chidambaram’s contention, agriculture minister Surendra Nath Nayak asserted that the state had recommended MSP at Rs 1,000 per quintal for paddy, as suggested by Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).

“At the agriculture ministers’ conference held at New Delhi on April 23, I had suggested that the paddy MSP be raised to Rs 1,000 per quintal,” Nayak explained, showing a copy of the conference proceedings.

The meeting minutes did show that the minister had suggested a MSP of Rs 1,000.

Earlier, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had also written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (November 21, 2007) requesting him to enhance the minimum support price to Rs 1,000 per quintal.

Naveen had pointed out to the “disparity” between the minimum support prices of wheat and paddy and had requested that the MSP be raised to Rs 1,000 per quintal, while fixing the wheat price for Rs 695 per quintal.

“While wheat is cultivated by farmers in economically developed regions, paddy is grown by poor farmers of eastern states such as Orissa. The price disparity between wheat and paddy may be perceived as an act of discrimination by the Centre since paddy is a labour intensive crop with a high input cost,” the letter read.

Since paddy cultivation is the mainstay of the farmers of Orissa, MSP enhancement would help raise their economic standards and bring parity among different regions, Naveen had pleaded.

Subsequently, Orissa agriculture secretary U.P. Singh had written to the Union agriculture ministry’s principal advisor, S.M. Jharwal, on April 30 agreeing to the recommendations of the CACP for enhancement of MSP, official sources said.

“How could the finance minister suggest that Orissa had called for a lesser price,” asked an agitated Nayak, dubbing the Union minister’s statement as “misleading”.

The government had found itself in a tizzy, when NCP president Bijoy Mohapatra had charged the government for a lesser price, when most states had asked for more. The government had denied all allegations.

Chidambaram’s assertion has embarrassed the Orissa government further, especially since it is busy projecting itself as farmer-friendly.