Bhubaneswar, Aug. 27: The BJP’s attempt to step up its campaign against the BJD in Odisha on the issue of mining scam received a setback with party leader and Union steel and mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar today ruling out a CBI inquiry into the scam without the Naveen Patnaik government’s consent.

“The Centre has tabled the action taken report in Parliament on the Justice M.B. Shah Commission report into the mining scam. The Narendra Modi government will respect the state government’s decision on the vigilance inquiry into the mining scam,” the minister told reporters.

The state unit of BJP is in an aggressive mode vis a vis the Naveen Patnaik government and has been demanding CBI probe into the mining scam and the land scam in Odisha.

On Tuesday, the party’s big wigs in the state had submitted a memorandum to the governor seeking a probe by the CBI into the land scam. The party had also made it clear that it will continue its agitation and carry it across Odisha till a CBI probe is ordered into the land scam.

The position of the minister that no CBI inquiry into the mining scam would be done without the recommendation of the Odisha government has dampened the spirits of the BJP leaders in the state.

“The central government will respect the federal spirit and work together with all the state governments for better growth and development of the country,” said the minister.

On being asked whether the Centre was taking a soft stand on the issue to avoid antagonising Naveen at this moment, the minister said: “The question is not of making someone happy or unhappy. We will act according to the law.”

Union secretary of mines Anup Pujari, who was present at the news conference addressed by the minister, said: “On the mining issue, the state government said it had done a substantial investigation. If a CBI inquiry is ordered into the issue at this point, it will be a setback to the investigation and the prosecution process. We will have to respect state’s sentiments.”

Tomar, accompanied by the secretary and others, earlier during the day had a meeting with chief minister Naveen Patnaik and had a detailed discussion on the mining activities in Odisha. At the meeting, official sources said the state government had expressed apprehensions that slowing down of mining activities would hardly hit Odisha’s economy and its industrialisation process.

State BJP unit president K.V. Singh Deo is still hopeful that the Centre would recommend a CBI inquiry into the mining scam. The state unit of the party appears hopeful in this regard, because earlier its campaign on the money deposit scam issue paid off with the Supreme Court asking the CBI to look into the affairs of 44 fund collection companies in Odisha.

Tomar said the Centre had assured the state government that it was actively considering its recommendation for granting Khandadhar iron ore mining lease to the South Korean steel company Posco for its proposed eight million-tonne integrated steel plant near Paradip.

“We have discussed the Posco issue, including grant of mining lease for Khandadhar mines, with the chief minister. However, there are some issues that need to be resolved,” said Tomar.