Bhubaneswar: Congress leader Srikant Jena on Friday alleged that there was a secret pact between Modi and chief minister Naveen Panaik to extend favour to the Vedanta group.

In a letter to Naveen, Jena said: "The Kodinga bauxite mine was handed over to the Vedanta group at a throwaway price. While the market price of bauxite hovers around Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000 per tonne, the Odisha government has handed over the bauxite mines at Rs 462 per tonne to Vedanta group on a long-term basis. The state government will lose around Rs 5,000 crore in the next-10 years for this."

He said: "Violating all rules, Prime minister Narendra Modi had given exploration and forest clearance to the Kodinga bauxite mines in 2017. Just after the clearance was accorded, the state government handed over the Kodinga mines to the group on a war footing."

He also alleged that iron ore worth Rs 2 lakh crore was looted during the Naveen's regime. "Justice M.B. Shah Commission has also pointed about the loot in its report. But the Prime Minister is mum on the issue."

"When the Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation exports low quality of bauxite at a higher rate, what hinders the Odisha Mining Corporation to export bauxite? People of Odisha wants to know why a concession of Rs 3,000 is being given for each tonne of bauxite," he said.

He also asked why the state government was selling iron ore to Nilachal Ispat, a government public sector, at market rate? "That company should also be given the concession," he said.

He said: "If the Odisha Mining Corporation takes lease of the Vedanta company, it will get a profit of Rs 2,000 crore per annum. What is the problem if the OMC and Nalco set up a refinery and export the alumina to foreign?"

Steel and mines minister Prafulla Mallick, however, said: "I am not aware of the issue."