Bhubaneswar, Aug. 26: The BJD’s anti-Centre campaign is beginning to lose steam with tokenism replacing any serious intent to put up a fight on state issues.

The latest example of BJD’s tentativeness on what was once its reason for existence is its failure to muster enough support within the party for its rally against the Polavaram project at Mottu in Malkangiri district tomorrow. The project, which is coming up in Andhra Pradesh, threatens to inundate over a dozen villages in Malkangiri.

Sources said no state-level leaders of the party would take part in the Mottu rally tomorrow which, given the earlier hype, was expected to draw top BJD leaders. However, a party insider said only leaders from undivided Koraput district would manage the show at Mottu.

This is in sharp contrast to the show of strength put up by the party in September 2010 in Malkangiri on the issue. As many as eight ministers and a dozen MLAs, apart from MPs, had attended that protest rally sending a strong message to the Centre, which has been favouring Andhra Pradesh on Polavaram.

Ever since, however, there has hardly been any effort by the ruling party to maintain the tempo of its campaign on Polavaram even though there have been several provocations from Andhra Pradesh. However, Naveen has limited himself to shooting occasional letters to the Prime Minister opposing the project.

Even in the end of July Naveen wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging him to stop Andhra Pradesh from issuing tenders for the multi-purpose Polavaram dam project over the Godavari river till a case pending in the Supreme Court was disposed of. Naveen had said: “I request your kind personal intervention in the matter. Immediate orders may be issued not to proceed with the tendering process till all the case matters pending in the Supreme Court are finally adjudicated and disposed of.”

Apart from these occasiobal letters, Naveen hasn’t done much to inspire his party cadres to take to streets on the issue.

This has given the Congress the scope to attack the chief minister.

“We are keen to protect the interest of Odisha on Polavaram, but the state government does not appear to be interested. The chief minister is yet to respond to our call for an all-party meeting to discuss the issue,” said state Congress president Niranjan Patnaik.

School and mass education minister and Jeypore MLA Rabi Narayan Nanda, however, sought to downplay the likely absence of senior party leaders at tomorrow’s rally at Mottu.

“As the Assembly session begins on Tuesday, it won’t be possible for many ministers and MLAs to attend the rally. However, the party is seriously pursuing the Polavaram issue,” he said defensively.

Significantly, the BJD leadership’s attempt to turn the heat on the Centre over fertiliser shortage and coal block allotment boomeranged when Union minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers Srikant Jena came up with documentary evidence, which put the chief minister himself in the dock.

The documents, which showed that the state government in 2005 had opposed competitive bidding for the allotment of coal blocks, turned the tables against Naveen, who is yet to come out with a rebuttal.

Jena also took the sting out of state government’s attack on the Centre on the issue of fertiliser shortage, accusing the Naveen Patnaik government of making no attempts to recover fertiliser stocks from hoarders, who were trying to create an artificial crisis. His critique has left the government speechless. The Congress has decided to make the most of the opportunity by planning a gherao of the Assembly on September 6 to highlight the alleged failure of the BJD on various fronts.

The chief minister, it seems, is only trying to maintain the pretence of fighting the Centre by shooting off occasional letters to the Prime Minister or his ministerial colleagues.

The latest was dispatched today to railway minister Mukul Roy demanding manned gates or overbridges at over 600 unmanned railway crossings in the state that have turned into death traps. The letter comes in the wake of Friday’s accident at an unmanned crossing in Sambalpur in which 13 people were killed when the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Intercity Express rammed into a three-wheeler goods carrier ferrying passengers. Seven people were injured in the accident. The driver of the vehicle and 12 women were among the deceased.