Bhubaneswar: The state government on Thursday rejected Union minister for water resources Nitin Gadkari's offer for fresh negotiations to settle the Mahanadi water-sharing dispute.

Finance minister Sashi Bhusan Behera said: "We reject the proposal for fresh talk. Without a delay, the Centre should form a tribunal."

Sharpening its attack on the Centre, BJD general secretary Sanjay Das Burma described Gadkari as "a spokesperson of the Chhattisgarh government". He also announced a 10-day-long agitation from Monday to demand enhancement of minimum support price (MSP) for paddy.

Das Burma said: "Gadkari's stand of setting up a tribunal in the next three months is only a delaying tactics and aimed at helping Chhattisgarh to complete its ongoing work on barrages in the upstream of the Mahanadi."

In response to BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahatab's query on the tribunal, Gadkari on Thursday told the Lok Sabha: "I am inviting the Odisha government for a discussion. If it fails here, we will take it to the Prime Minister. The Centre is aware of Odisha's demand for a tribunal and it will ensure that it is done in the next three months. A composite tribunal, which will merge all the tribunals of various states is on the anvil and once that becomes a law, Odisha will get a tribunal on the Mahanadi dispute with Chhattisgarh."

Gadkari had said the proposal for a composite tribunal was pending before the law ministry. Das Burma said: "Earlier Union water resources minister Sanjay Balian had advocated a tribunal, but on December 6 the Centre rejected the need for it in the Supreme Court."