Bhubaneswar, March 16: The impact of panchayat polls, where the BJP relegated the Congress to the third position in the zila parishads, is being felt in the ongoing budget session of Assembly.

The two parties, earlier known for floor co-ordination against the BJD, are now trying to be independent of each other. This change in equation became more visible today with BJP members almost not letting Opposition leader Narasingha Mishra speak on farmer suicide.

"It is unfortunate and condemnable that the BJP members tried to shout me down when I was raising the farmers' issue. This proves that they are not really concerned about the farmers' issues," an angry Mishra told newspersons outside the House.

To this, BJP Legislature Party leader K.V. Singh Deo retorted: "Was it proper on the part of the Congress MLAs to create disruption and not allowing us to raise issues in the past?" He recalled that the Congress members had rushed to the Well and created disturbances when his party wanted to raise the issue of farmer suicide and distress sale of vegetables during the session.

BJP MLA Pradeep Purohit said: "The BJD is panicky and the Congress upset over their debacle in the rural polls. That's why they have joined hands to attack Modi." He was referring to the understanding between the BJD and the Congress in forming the zila parishad in Sundargarh.

BJD chief whip Ananta Das, however, reiterated his party's stance of maintaining equal distance from both the Congress and the BJP. "It is rather the Congress and the BJP that had joined hands for the past three years to target our government," he said.