Bhubaneswar, Jan. 18: The contentious Polavaram issue is back in focus with the BJD today reacting sharply after the House committee of the Odisha Assembly failed to get an appointment with the Prime Minister's Office to present the state's views on the project.

The committee had sought an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi between December 27 and January 18, but did not get any response from the Prime Minister's Office till date. The party had planned to take up with the Prime Minister the issue of submergence of tribal land likely to be affected by the project and the fact that palli sabhas had not been held in the Odisha areas to be affected by the project.

According to the Odisha government's survey, 6,818 people, including 5,916 tribal villagers, would be displaced and 7,656 hectares and 26 tribal villages would be submerged because of the project.

BJD spokesperson Samir Ranjan Dash said: "This is an insult to the state. The party will protest by intensifying its movement on the issue in the coming days."

Senior BJD leader Amar Prasad Satpathy said: "The Prime Minister should find time to listen to the demands of the tribal people of the state. The Centre is least concerned about the cause of Odisha. This will not be tolerated."

On January 7, the BJD had successfully organised a 12-hour strike on the Polavaram issue in Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur and Rayagada districts and demonstrated near the Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar. It had also deputed four ministers - Puspendra Singh Deo, Ramesh Majhi, Pranab Prakash Das and Pradeep Panigrahi - to supervise the protests. Party leaders had also marched to the Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum addressed to the President to governor S.C. Jamir.

On December 17, a delegation of BJD MPs had met the Prime Minister seeking his intervention to stop unilateral construction of the project by Andhra Pradesh government and withdraw the national project status accorded to it.

On being asked about his reaction on the Prime Minister's refusal to give an appointment to the House committee on Polavaram, Opposition Congress's leader Narasingha Mishra said: "I will not comment on this issue as we have already boycotted the House committee."

All the five Congress members and three BJP members had resigned from the House committee, alleging that it was trying to politicise the issue rather than protecting the interests of Odisha. They alleged that the government had not taken them into confidence.

"Naveen had neither taken the Opposition into confidence, nor the tribal people of the undivided Koraput district. He has betrayed and backstabbed us," said Opposition chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati.

BJP state unit president Basanta Panda said: "The BJD is trying to make a political drama out of it. They failed to take it up seriously with the proper authorities either in the high court or in the Central Water Commission or in the Supreme Court. Their histrionics are not convincing."