Bhubaneswar, Feb. 20: The war of words between the BJP and the BJD intensified today setting the tone for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bargarh in west Odisha's drought belt tomorrow.

Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh started the verbal fight after reviewing the central projects' implementation in Odisha. He expressed dissatisfaction with the projects' progress and rapped the Odisha government for not being able to spend the central funds.

Singh, who later inaugurated an agriculture fair at Bargarh, said Odisha was lagging behind even in the utilisation of funds under the National Food Security Mission.

The BJD hit back immediately with state agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy asserting that nearly 70 per cent of the funds had been utilised with more than a month still left for the financial year to end.

BJD spokesperson P.K. Deb also hit out at the BJP leadership saying that the farmers' convention in Bargarh was being organised tomorrow as the saffron party had come to realise that it was moving away from the farmers. "It's strange that they have woken up to the problems of farmers after being in power for the past two years," said Deb.

The Prime Minister's visit is taking place in the backdrop of intense rivalry between the two parties which had ruled the state together for nearly nine years till their alliance broke ahead of the 2009 Assembly elections.

Ever since, the BJP, which fared badly in the last two Assembly elections, has been running a campaign against the BJD and its leader, chief minister Naveen Patnaik, in the hope of retrieving the ground it has lost in the state.

During Modi's last visit to Odisha on February 7 to inaugurate the Paradip oil refinery, there were skirmishes between workers of the BJP and the BJD, while their senior leaders traded charges. The BJP has also accused the Naveen Patnaik government of ignoring the farmers leading to a string of suicides, especially in Bargarh district, which was one of the worst hit by drought.

The BJD, on the other hand, has accused the Modi-led NDA government of shedding crocodile tears for farmers and alleged that the Centre had even slashed the promised drought assistance to Odisha by Rs 214 crore.

Given this backdrop, the Prime Minster's rally in Bargarh would be keenly watched by not only the BJD, but also the Congress, the main Opposition party.

Both the Congress and the BJD have organised farmers' rallies in Bargarh district in the recent past, hoping to make political capital out of the drought.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated a string of irrigation schemes and addressed gatherings of farmers in Kalahandi and Balangir districts on Thursday in an obvious bid to woo the farmers' community ahead of the Prime Minister's visit, for which security has been beefed up in Bargarh with the deployment of 65 platoons of police, including 300 officers.