Bhubaneswar, Oct. 14: All the 16 Congress MLAs of the state, led by Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra, want to meet AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi tomorrow to convey to him their stand on the Mahanadi dam dispute.

The decision of the MLAs, who had called on President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday on the Mahanadi issue, has fuelled speculation in the Capital in view of the growing rift between the Congress Legislature Party and the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC).

Congress Legislature Party leader Mishra, who is also the state's leader of Opposition, today said: " We will try to meet him. But, it all depends on Rahulji's availability. But today, we have met a number of leaders of the AICC." Sources said the Congress delegation had earlier wanted to meet party president Sonia Gandhi to apprise her of the party matters in the state. Sonia, however, did not meet them.

"We have sought an appointment with Rahul Gandhi. We hope to meet him tomorrow," said a state Congress leader.

The delegation led by Mishra had gone to Delhi yesterday and met the President in the evening and apprised him about the ongoing Mahanadi river dispute. During the meeting, they had told him about how Odisha's interest would be badly affected if the Chhattisgarh government was not asked to stop its construction activities on the upstream of the Mahanadi.

The Congress delegation's proposed meeting with Rahul is also considered significant in view of the perceived differences of opinion between Mishra and OPCC president Prasad Harichandan.

The MLAs claimed that they would apprise Rahul about the Mahanadi river dispute, which is a sensitive issue for the people of the state. The river is the lifeline for 15 of 30 districts in the state. The issue concerns the general public and any failure on our part could be disastrous for the party. "The BJD, which is responsible for the mess, should not be allowed to monopolise the issue. Similarly, the BJP, which is in power at the Centre, is not in a position to take up the issue in a big way. The party has to be aggressive on this issue to win the trust and confidence of people," said another Congress MLA.

The difference between Mishra and Harichandan had cropped up over the decision of Mishra to call an all-party convention on August 3. Harichandan and some of the senior leaders had abstained from the meeting on the plea that the central party had not "mandated" the meeting. Some of the leaders were of the view that the Congress should not share platform with the BJP and the BJD, while accusing the two parties of the mess over the dispute.

Later, the OPCC had observed a state-wide bandh on the issue on August 16. The AICC had called both the leaders and tried to make a truce between the two leaders.