New Delhi, Aug. 10: The Trinamul Congress and the BJD today separately accused the central government of giving preference to the BJP-ruled Gujarat and Assam in providing assistance for damage caused by floods while remaining apathetic to the case of Bengal and Odisha.

Raising the issue through a calling attention motion in the Lok Sabha, Trinamul MP Saugata Roy pointed out how the Prime Minister and central ministers visited Gujarat and Assam but none of their colleagues paid a visit to Bengal. Roy wondered whether his state was being "politically discriminated".

"Will the central government announce a package for Bengal for relief and rehabilitation for the state," Roy asked. "There was no place for discrimination in tragedy."

Speaking on the same motion, BJD MP Balabhadra Majhi was not as assertive as Roy but underlined how the central government had shown "dariya dilee" (large heartedness) in case of Gujarat and Assam but not released funds for Odisha.

Later, leader of the BJD in the House Bhartruhari Mahatab flagged the Mahanadi water dispute issue with the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh during Zero Hour and demanded formation of a river water dispute tribunal at the earliest. He said the tribunal was yet to be formed even though the Supreme Court had favoured it.

In a rare act, the BJD members then trooped in the Well over the issue demanding a response from the government, leading to adjournment during the pre-lunch session.

"The river water dispute tribunal should be formed without any further delay, and the Chhattisgarh government should be asked to stop the construction of disputed barrages on the Mahanadi," Mahatab said.

The Chhattisgarh government has already rejected the Odisha government's demand to stop the construction work.

Replying on behalf of the government, junior home minister Kiren Rijiju rejected the partisan charge levelled by Roy and instead blamed the Bengal government of being lackadaisical. He said the Bengal government had not sent any memorandum seeking central help.

"No memorandum seeking the central assistance has come from Bengal. This is the basic minimum requirement," Rijiju said.

On this, Roy tried to intervene, pointing out that the Centre should first send a team to assess the damage caused by the floods. To this, Rijiju said the centre sent the team only after a memorandum was submitted from the state government.

Rijiju also denied the accusation made by the BJD members and said the Centre would extend all the help required by Odisha and had already released funds under the State Disaster Relief Fund.