Berhampur, June 12: The Odisha Jan Morcha supremo Pyari Mohan Mohapatra today described the Swabhiman Samabesh in New Delhi organised by the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) as a political gimmick.

Addressing a party rally here, Mohapatra accused the chief minister of trying to monopolise the issue by organising a party programme in New Delhi. The state Assembly has passed a unanimous resolution seeking special status for Odisha.

“All the legislators should have gone to New Delhi under the leadership of the Speaker and met the Prime Minister and deputy chairman of Planning Commission to put forth the demand. The state will benefit about Rs 4,000-crore in terms of interest from the Union government loan. But if we insist on mines royalty, we can benefit Rs 20,000 crore. Naveen has taken up the issue as a BJD programme for political mileage,” he said.

Reacting sharply to the chief minister’s accusation that the Congress party had a hand in Pyari’ s game plan to topple him, he said: “Naveen has failed on all fronts, he has dragged the Congress helplessly.” He also dismissed the allegations that he had received Rs 200 crore from mines owners at a hotel in Rourkela.

“These are bogus and irresponsible statements,” Pyari Mohan said.

“The owner of Artha Tatwa group Pradip Sethi belongs to Hinjili area in and is a relative of a former BJD MLA, who was closely associated with Naveen. It is for this reason that Naveen is suppressing the facts relating to involvement of five ministers and MLAs of the BJD. Pradip Sethi had made a statement that he had benefited many political leaders,” Pyari Mohan said. He said that the CBI should conduct an inquiry and not the crime branch. The chief minister must take initiative to return the money of the depositors after acquiring the properties the deposit collection companies or the non-banking financial institutions and disposed them through tender.

He said that he would visit all the 147 Assembly constituencies in the state. “If Odisha Jan Morcha comes to power, we will turn every village as a power centre and give them adequate powers. We will snatch the mines royalty rights from the Centre to benefit 80 lakh families of the state who are languishing in poverty.”