Dharmendra slams Raman for remarks on Mahanadi waters

BHUBANESWAR: Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday hit out at fellow party man and Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh for saying 'no force can stop us from using water from Mahanadi'. Dharmendra's attack comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi blamed Odisha chief minister for the stalemate in the Mahanadi water sharing dispute.

"Such a remark by Raman Singh is condemnable... I admit Chhattisgarh is at fault," Dharmendra said while responding to a media query here. Earlier, while speaking to the media in Raigarh on Tuesday, Raman had claimed Chhattisgarh's rights over the Mahanadi waters since the largest catchment of the river falls in his state.

This is the first time that Dharmendra has criticised Raman, which many see as an attempt to absolve himself of opposition charges that he is siding with Chhattisgarh on the Mahanadi issue.

Dharmendra did not spare the BJD either. Questioning what the party was doing in the state for so many years that it has been in power, the Union minister said, "The tribunal will give justice for Chhattisgarh's wrongdoings. But what prevented the BJD government from taking any initiative to store even a bucket of Mahanadi water in 18 years? The BJD must answer that." The Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal has issued notices to the state governments of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to nominate their representatives for adjudication of the dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh by August 6.

Dharmendra, the BJP's most prominent face in Odisha, said his party had suggested solution through mutual discussions because tribunals take long time to come to a conclusion.