Bhubaneswar, Aug. 12: The Congress leaders today put up a show of unity and gave a statewide strike call on August 16 in protest against the BJD government’s failure in taking up the Mahanadi river issue.

Pradesh Congress Committee president Prasad Harichandan and Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra today announced the decision to organise the strike at a joint news conference.

The Congress’s organisational apparatus and its legislature party wing were at loggerheads over the party’s strategy to take the sensitive issue to the pubic. Mishra, who is also the Opposition leader, had been aggressive on the issue from the day one.

But, Harichandan and his supporters had appeared to have had given cold responses to Mishra’s initiatives in visiting Chhattisgarh and holding an all-party conference on the issue. Harichandan and a few senior leaders had stayed away from the meeting on August 3 on the pretext that the party had not endorsed such a meeting. The group backing Harichandan had been saying that the party must take a stand independent of the BJP and the BJD as the two parties are responsible for the current mess.

Congress sources said the two leaders agreed to share the dais and address a news conference to dispel the impression that the party is divided on the issue. However, at the news conference, Mishra and Harichandan parried questions on their differences. “This is not the time to raise such issues. We all are working to protect the interest of the state,” said Mishra. Harichandan, however, refused to answer the barrage of questions.

Announcing the party’s decision, Harichandan said: “The Centre should intervene in the matter and ensure that the Chhattisgarh government stopped constructing any more dams and barrages on the Mahanadi.” He also accused the state government of misleading the people on the issue and urged the Naveen Patnaik government to institute legal action against Chhattisgarh.

Taking a dig at the chief minister, Mishra recalled: “He had announced in the Assembly in April 2001 that his government won’t allow the Chhattisgarh government to construct barrages in the Mahanadi upstream. We are not finding the same kind of confidence and aggressiveness now.”

Mishra reiterated his allegation that the BJD did not object to Chhattisgarh’s move to build barrages, which would help industrial houses. These industrial houses, who have funded the projects, had business interests in Odisha as well.

Aware that the Congress is divided on the issue, BJD spokesperson Pratap Deb took a dig at the Congress leaders. He said: “There is a split in the Congress over the Mahanadi issue, and they have given the strike call to display a show of solidarity. Now, what happens to the all-party meeting called by Mishra?” he asked and commented: “The meeting was a farce.” Incidentally, the all-party conference had submitted a memorandum to the President through the governor, demanding formation of a river board to settle the dispute and immediate stoppage of all the works undertaken by Chhattisgarh.

Deb, who was part of his party’s 12-member delegation that had visited various project sites in Chhattisgarh, said: “Our report is being finalised. We will submit it to the chief minister.”

While the Congress hardened its stance on this issue, the BJD today suffered embarrassment with Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan rejecting a privilege motion against the Union minister of state for water resources Sanjeev Balyan for misleading the House during the adjournment motion on the dispute on July 26. The BJD’s contention was that Odisha was never consulted on the Kelo and Arpa projects. Reacting to the rejection, BJP leader and Union minister Jual Oram said: “The BJD will be swept by the water of Mahanadi. They want to mislead public on this issue.”