Bhubaneswar, May 7: The Congress today criticised chief minister Naveen Patnaik and the BJD for their silence concerning the decrease in the flow of central funds to Odisha.

"During the UPA regime, they used to make wild allegations of central neglect towards the state in spite of the Centre having provided enough assistance to the state," said Opposition leader Narasingha Mishra.

"Now, when eight vital schemes have been de-linked from central assistance and central funding has been decreased in 33 schemes, the BJD and its government are maintaining a mysterious silence," said Mishra.

The Congress leader alleged that there was "obviously a deal between the BJP-led Centre and the BJD-led state government".

"According to the information we have, Naveen meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi every time he visits New Delhi. The frequency of his visits have gone up perhaps because of fear of a CBI investigation into deposit-collection scam," he said.

The BJD, on the other hand, denied the allegation. "There is no deal with the Centre," said BJD spokesman Amar Prasad Satpathy.

Referring to the announcement of the Prime Minister during his visit to the state on April 1 that Odisha would get central assistance to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore this year as compared to Rs 18,000 crore last year, Mishra said: "It's not sure whether the state will get Rs 7,000 crore more, but it has already lost Rs 3,000 crore because the central assistance did not arrive."

He said central assistance has been de-linked from eight schemes, including Backward Region Grants Fund, modernisation of police force and National Mission of Food Processing, which would put a heavy financial burden on the state exchequer.