Orissa wary of yet-to-be-born state

BHUBANESWAR, March 22: Despite the BJP-led alliance's assertion that the proposed new State of Vananchal would be limited to the geographica...

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BHUBANESWAR, March 22: Despite the BJP-led alliance’s assertion that the proposed new State of Vananchal would be limited to the geographical boundaries of Bihar, the issue has snowballed into a raging controversy in Orissa.

After the issue rocked the State Assembly where the Opposition Janata Dal tried to corner the Biju Janata Dal by accusing it of having compromised the State’s interests in exchange of a few berths in the central ministry, the rumblings have continued with apprehensions expressed about some areas of Orissa being included in the proposed State.

Jaswant Singh, convenor of the coordinating committee which finalised the alliance’s national agenda, on March 19 wrote a letter to BJD chief, Naveen Patnaik stating categorically that the new State would be established within the present geographical boundaries of the State of Bihar.

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He also said that there were no grounds whatsoever for any one to apprehend that this State would encroach on the claims or rights of territories of any otheradjoining states including Orissa.

This, however, does not appear to satisfy the JD leaders with party MLA and State Yuva Janata president Ranendra Pratap Swain demanding today that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee should issue a clarification in this regard. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) State committee has also demanded a clarification from the BJP led Union Government about the proposed Vananchal State which figured in the national agenda for governance.

In a statement, party’s State secretariat member Santosh Das said that the people of the State were apprehensive of a possible division of Orissa. He further said that the people’s apprehension was not without any basis. The people have strong reasons to believe that the BJP is the only party which can go for division of states for its own benefit. First, the BJP was opposed to the idea of language based states. Secondly, both the Central and State BJP leaders advocated many times for separate western Orissa state, Dasreminded.

Meanwhile, four BJP MPs from the State criticised the ruling Congress and the Janata Dal for trying to mislead the people on the proposed Vananchal issue. In a joint statement, Kalahandi MP BK Deo, Sundargarh MP Juel Oram, Keonjhar MP Upendra Nayak and Mayurbhanj MP Salkhan Murmu said that their party had clarified from the beginning that there was no move to divide Orissa for the proposed Vananchal State. The party was committed for separate Uttaranchal, Vananchal and Chhatishgarh states for the same reason. However, these states would be carved out of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh respectively. No neighbouring states would be disturbed during the formation of these states, they clarified.

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They further stated that the BJP strongly opposed the demand for a separate Jharkhand state by the Jharkhandis.