New Delhi, July 20 :    New Delhi, July 20:  BJP's usually mild mannered ally Naveen Patnaik, chief minister of Orissa, has for the first time in his life written a strongly-worded letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee threatening 'serious repercussions' if the Centre goes ahead with its plan to sell the Orissa-based aluminium major Nalco. In the letter (a copy of which is available with The Telegraph), the Orissa chief minister has warned that 'there is serious resentment in the state cutting across party lines. If the central government proceeds further with the implementation of the recent CCD decision on privatising Nalco, I apprehend that any unilateral action by the central government in this very sensitive matter, without taking us on board, would have serious repercussions.' Sources in the Prime Minister's Office, who have been analysing the letter and gathering political intelligence on the Orissa chief minister's intentions, said Patnaik has carefully chosen the tone and tenor of his letter to make it clear to Vajpayee that the consequences will be an embarrassing statewide agitation similar to the one Chattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi had kicked off against the Balco selloff. For Orissa, the stakes are even higher than it was for Chattisgarh as Nalco is the only major central government enterprise in the state employing some 6,400 workers. For the Vajpayee government, if Orissa starts an agitation on a central government decision and Bengal too decides to take to the streets on the bifurcation of the Eastern Railways, things could indeed look bleak. Patnaik's letter handed over earlier this week through his lieutenant Arjun Charan Sethi, water resources minister in the central government, also rubbishes disinvestment minister Arun Shourie's contention that there is a clear-cut consensus on the BJP government's divestment strategy. 'I am deeply concerned about the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment taken a couple of days back on privatisation of Nalco, reversing the earlier decision to carry out divestment in three stages...(there is need) to take the state government into confidence on sequencing disinvestment,' the Orissa chief minister has told the Prime Minister. The problem really started nine days ago when the CCD decided to put the Orissa-based aluminium major up for sale to strategic bidders as well as go in for simultaneous public and ADR issues, despite strident opposition from BJP's Orissa ally, the BJD. Disinvestment minister Arun Shourie had said that the government would sell 29.15 per cent to a strategic partner, another 30 per cent through a public offering and ten per cent through an American Depository Receipt simultaneously. In all, the government would sell 59.15 per cent of its current holding of about 87.5 per cent stake in the aluminium major. The problem for Shourie and his boss Vajpayee is that earlier, the same BJP government had agreed with Patnaik that the government could divest in Nalco through sales to the public and through ADR or GDR issues, while retaining management control for some more time at least.