Bhubaneswar, Jan. 20: The BJD today flaunted its strength by organising a students' convention in the city.

The event came right after the CBI had taken over the investigation into the money deposit circulation scam.

Though no BJD leader, who addressed the convention, raised the issue directly, many of them targeted the Centre and warned that the party would be forced to resort to agitation if there was any conspiracy against the state government.

Students and youths from all over the state congregated in Bhubaneswar for the convention.

While chief minister Naveen Patnaik allowed his colleagues to go ahead and target the BJP, he, himself, maintained a stoic silence on the issue and preferred not to utter a word against the Centre.

Naveen was perhaps reciprocating the gesture of BJP national president Amit Shah, who, during his Mahasangram rally here on January 6, had pulled his punches against Naveen.

Instead Naveen asked the students to lay stress on their careers, responsibility towards their parents and play their part in the making of a society and nation building. Following the BJP's high-tech formula on enrolling members through a missed call on the mobile, Naveen also launched the online membership drive.

Speaking on the occasion, Naveen said: 'It is your dedication and determination that have made the BJD the most successful regional party in the history of the state.'

He also said students should play a role to spread secular values and ideas. The party also tried its best to inject Biju Patnaik's ideology among the youths by screening a documentary on Biju babu and his contribution to Odisha.

The mood against the BJP was evident from the beginning of the meeting with BJD student wing president and MLA Byomkesh Ray setting the tone. However, it was actor-turned-MP Anubhav Mohanty, who imparted a momentum to the anti-Centre campaign by launching a scathing attack on the BJP. 'They should not underestimate us. We are now all over the state and ready to give them a fitting reply,' said Mohanty.

While the next speaker, minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, tried to project how the state had made big strides under the leadership of its chief minister, another minister, Sanjay Dasburma, targeted the Centre for taking an anti-Odisha stand.

'The railway is getting nearly Rs 14,000 crore as revenue from the Centre, but the state has not been benefited,' he said.

All other leaders, including minister Debi Prasad Mishra, and others also came down heavily on the Centre for bringing the ordinance on mining - which was inimical to the state's interest.