Bhubaneswar: The Centre's decision to hike the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy marginally from Rs 1,550 to Rs 1,750 has provided the BJD fresh ammunition against the BJP-led NDA government to consolidate its farmers' constituency.

The BJD threatened to launch a statewide agitation on the issue to win over the support of farmers.

"This is not acceptable to us. This is like betraying the farming community. We will protest over the issue," said BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb.

Deb said: "The government has not taken the Swaminanathan Committee report into consideration while deciding the MSP. Had that been done the MSP of paddy would have been increased by another Rs 300."

The BJD has been trying to woo the farmers for the past sometime. Party president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik has been quietly meeting farmers from across the state to seek their views and tell them about the schemes and programmes of his government.

Agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy said: "This hike is not acceptable to the farmers of the state. They will continue to incur losses."

On Tuesday, Maharathy had shot off a letter to the Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh demanding that MSP should be fixed at 1.5 times the full cost of the agricultural produce. He had also reminded Singh that the Assembly had taken a unanimous resolution on the issue and it had been sent to the Centre.

Last year, the Centre had hiked the MSP of paddy from Rs 1,470 to Rs 1,550 per quintal. However, the state has been demanding that the MSP should be raised to Rs 2,930.

Criticising the BJD, Union petroleum minister Dharmedra Pradhan said: "The state government had announced a bonus of Rs 100 for farmers on each quintal of paddy in 2014. Are they implementing it? They are only shedding crocodile tears on the issue."

The minister also said that there was a set criterion for fixing the MSP of crops and any raise was based on it. " This is something the state must understand," he added.

The Union minister also took potshots at the Congress.

"The Congress should go for self-introspection. The UPA government had never made such a high increase in the MSP of paddy. There were times during the UPA regime when there was no increase in MSP," he said.

The state Congress, too, has decided to hit the streets on the issue with Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik describing the hike of Rs 200 per quintal as neither sufficient nor remunerative for farmers. "The BJP-led NDA government has betrayed the farmers," he said.

Congress working president Chiranjib Biswal said: "We will protest as the Assembly had passed a resolution demanding MSP of Rs 2,930."