Bhubaneswar: The BJD parliamentary party on Thursday decided to attack the Centre during the winter session of the Parliament that begins on Friday, alleging that the Centre was apathetic towards the state on a host of issues, including the Mahanadi water sharing dispute.

This was revealed at a meeting of the BJD MPs, chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik here.

The Assembly formed two committees, headed by Naveen and House Speaker Pradeep Amat, respectively, to take up the Mahanadi issue with the Centre. Naveen heads an all-party committee and Amat the House committee.

The Assembly's winter session had witnessed a series of adjournments over the Mahanadi issue with the BJD and the Congress accusing the Centre of blatantly favouring Chhattisgarh. Even the BJP, which had been accused of taking a soft stand on the Mahanadi, had vowed to support the state government on the issue. Odisha wants constitution of a tribunal to settle the dispute.

After the parliamentary party meeting at Naveen Nivas, party MP Kalikesh Singhdeo said: "Though according to the law, the Centre is bound to form a tribunal, it is showing undue favour to Chhattisgarh by not constituting it to resolve the Mahanadi dispute. We will continue to fight against central apathy towards the state."

The other issues that the BJD would take up included the Polavaram project. The MPs were told that the construction of Polavaram multipurpose project before settlement of pending issues by the apex court would adversely affect the interests of the state.

The MPs will take up the issue of delay in the construction of Jeypore-Nabarangpur, Puri-Konark, Jeypore-Malkangiri railway lines. "The state has agreed to bear 50 per cent of land and construction cost, but the delay by the railways to complete the work is totally unacceptable," Singhdeo said.

The MPs have been told that though the state government has exempted stamp duty, registration fee as well as premium charges on government land for all railway projects, their progress is not encouraging.

The issue of minimum support price (MSP) for paddy and construction of a second bridge over the Brahmani river occupy the 13-point agenda. The Assembly has adopted a resolution for increasing the MSP to Rs 2,930 and had been seeking appointments with the Prime Minister to raise the issue. On the second bridge, the party was of the view that no forest clearance was required.

Another issue that the MPs will take up included revision of coal royalty which has been due since April 2015. The BJD wants change in sharing pattern of centrally sponsored schemes, reimbursement of the cost of deployment of central armed police forces in the Maoist-hit areas and low telecom connectivity; cash disbursement of pension under NSAP, release of tax devolution to the state government, establishment of a hub of the Tata Memorial Centre and introduction of a new Rajdhani Express via Sambalpur.