Bhubaneswar, Aug. 31: The BJD today outsmarted the Opposition in the Assembly, effectively pre-empting a discussion on fertiliser scarcity and figure mismatch for rice meant for the public distribution system, by raising the issue of Odisha’s neglect in railways.

The Opposition’s plans to corner the government went haywire as the BJD seized the initiative with party MLA Amar Prasad Satpathy setting the tone for the discussion during Zero Hour. What followed was an avalanche of anti-Centre sentiments over the issue, which drowned whatever hopes the Congress-led Opposition had of putting the government on the mat over fertiliser and rice issues.

For the past few weeks, the state and the Centre have been locked in a battle over fertiliser scarcity and the Opposition has been demanding a special discussion on the issue. Union minister of state for chemical and fertilisers Srikant Jena has also accused the Naveen Patnaik government of mismanagement of the subsidised food grains provided by the Centre.

Jena, who holds the chemical and fertilisers portfolio, said the Centre had supplied more fertiliser for this year kharif season, compared to the previous year. The total availability of urea had increased from 2.71 lakh metric tonnes in 2011 (February-August 15) to 2.78 lakh metric tonnes during the corresponding period this year.

Similarly, availability of DAP, NPK and MOP fertilisers has been substantially raised over the same period, he said.

“The strain in availability of fertilisers being reported in Odisha may be because of possible siphoning of fertilisers for industrial use or hoarding by the dealers or retailers, who are resorting to black-marketeering. This needs to be closely monitored by the state government,” said Jena.

Firing yet another salvo at the chief minister, Jena said he was informed that the state government was supplying 25kg of food grains per month to the below poverty line (BPL) families and those included under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana, whereas the Centre was providing 35kg of food grains for each of these families.

These two issues were expected to be raised in the House by the Opposition members today.

However, Satpathy promptly raised the issue of continuous neglect of Odisha by the railways over the years and demanded a special discussion on the matter, catching the Congress off guard.