BHUBANESWAR: The BJD on Saturday accused the Centre of favouring Chhattisgarh in the Mahanadi water sharing dispute and threatened to go to any extent to protect the state's interest. A day after chief minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting that a tribunal be constituted at the earliest - his second such letter to the PM in the last two weeks - BJD spokesperson Pratap Kehari Deb said the Centre has been purposefully delaying the formation of the tribunal so that Chhattisgarh has time to complete its ongoing projects. "Because of a BJP government in the neighbouring state, the Union government is being biased towards it at the cost of Odisha's interest ," he said.Deb said the BJD will decide the next course of action soon. On October 9, the Central government had apprised the Supreme Court that it will notify a tribunal under the Interstate Water Dispute Act, 1956 by November 19.BJP national general secretary Arun Singh said Naveen lacks sincerity in solving the Mahanadi problem. "Only writing letters to the PM will never resolve the row," Singh said. Singh added that the BJP will never allow any compromise on the interest of Odisha on the issue. Reacting to Singh, Deb said the BJP leaders are only shedding crocodile's tears. "If they are serious, they could have stopped Chhattisgarh long ago," Deb said.

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