Bhubaneswar, June 7: An element of exaggeration bordering on misinformation seems to have crept into the ruling BJD’s campaign for special category status to Odisha.

The pamphlets being distributed by the party ahead of its Swabhiman rally in Delhi would have one to believe that in the event of special category status being conferred on the state, the Centre would be obliged to return it the huge amount of money collected in the form of revenue over decades from Odisha by exploiting its forest and mineral resources.

The state, if the claims made by the party in its campaign literature were to be believed, would also get back the money the Centre has earned through the railways in Odisha. All this would flow back to the state in the form of special financial grants.

In reality, however, no state is entitled to such benefits from the Centre following the conferment of special category status, which, however, entitles states to 30 per cent of the Union government’s normal plan assistance.

As regional passions run high and rhetoric replaces reason, ruling party leaders are also advocating tweaking of the special category criteria set by the Centre to suit Odisha’s claim

Aware that Odisha’s claim is bound to be rejected at least on one count — the absence of an international border —senior BJD leader and health minister Damodar Rout has come up with an ingenious suggestion that Centre should treat the state’s 480km coastline as international .

The special category status row flared up after Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia in a letter to chief minister Naveen Patnaik last month sought to explain that Odisha did not fit the bill on the basis of the existing criteria.

While BJD leaders went ballistic against Ahluwalia, a section of Congress leaders in the state wondered what was the need for the reputed economist to stir an unnecessary controversy despite being aware of Union finance minister P. Chidambaram’s assurance about revisiting the criteria for the grant of special category status to states in his budget speech.

Sources said that Ahluwalia during his meeting with Naveen in Delhi on June 4 to finalise Odisha’s plan size had sought to clear the air over the issue. Dispelling the impression that he had rejected the state’s claim for special category status, Ahluwalia is reported to have told Naveen that a final call would be taken only after Raghuram Rajan committee had submitted its report.