Bhubaneswar, Dec. 12: Senior BJD leader and excise minister Damodar Rout today went against his government's stand on the multi-irrigation Polavaram project, saying that it was too late now for work on the dam to be stalled.

The state government has demanded that work on the project should be stopped immediately.

"The Polavaram project has reached such a stage that it cannot be stopped. Discussions should be initiated on the steps to be taken to rehabilitate the tribal people living in the areas, which are going to be submerged because of the project," Rout told The Telegraph.

The minister said the differences of opinion among the MPs in the past 15 years have cost the state dearly. "Cutting across all party lines, the MPs should have presented an unanimous view on Odisha's interest at the Centre. But, that did not happen during the UPA regime."

Criticising the Congress and the BJP on the issue, the excise minister, who is known for his frank views, said: "With the change of weather, the two parties are changing their positions."

Rout got support from unexpected quarters. Congress MLA and Opposition leader Narasingha Mishra said he agreed with the excise minister's views.

"Speaking in different voices has weakened the stand of Odisha. The BJD has always put the party's interest before the state's interest," said Mishra.

On Friday, the Congress and the BJP decided to dissociate themselves from the House committee that was supposed to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Polavaram issue.

The two parties said that while all the parties had agreed to make a common cause, the BJD, in order to grab limelight, stalled the proceedings of the House and submitted a memorandum to the governor demanding scraping of the Polavaram project. The BJD's attempt had been to portray itself as the only party championing the cause of the state's interest, they contended.

Accusing the Naveen Patnaik government of not doing its homework properly, Union tribal welfare minister Jual Oram today said: "Why are they raising their voice when the work of the dam is almost complete by 50 per cent?"

Oram alleged that the BJD did not fight for the cause of the state in the Supreme Court properly.

"Because of the inept handling of the case, the state is paying the price now. While the state government has spent crores of rupees trying to not hand over the deposit collection cases to the CBI, why did it not take the same stand in the Polavaram case?" Oram said.

"The noises over the dam was a political drama enacted by the BJD to divert attention from farmer suicides. Why didn't the BJD put pressure on the central government (during the Vajpayee tenure) to scrap the Polavaram project when it's representative Arjun Sethi was the water resources minister?" he said.