With the test of numbers for passage of crucial pieces of legislation, including the amendments to the Land Act of 2013, due in Parliament, the BJP is in no position to displease any of its allies at this point. Aware of this advantage, the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD has launched a full-fledged attack on the Centre for the 'neglect' of Odisha in the annual budget. The regional party, which has 20 members in Lok Sabha and 8 in Rajya Sabha, can play a crucial role during the voting on bills.
The provocation for the state's anger is the alleged discrimination against Odisha in the Union Budget for 2015-16 and the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission a few days before that.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. PTI
The Odisha Chief Minister says the state would lose out nearly Rs 4, 600 crore by way of its share in the tax revenue over the next five years due to inclusion of new criteria like demographic changes and deletion of criteria for fiscal discipline. “In effect, we are being penalised for our fiscal discipline and population stabilisation initiatives,” he says.
At a meeting on Saturday to formulate a strategy for Parliament, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo asked party MPs to ‘raise the state’s concerns and fight for the state’s interests’, a euphemism for a hardened stand vis-a-vis the NDA government.
To drive the point home, BJD leader in Lok Sabha Bhartruhari Mahatab drew attention to the fact that party MPs sit in the Opposition benches. “There should be no doubt over the BJD’s role as an opposition party,” he said. “While the Prime Minister has claimed that the Centre has raised the share of states in Central taxes up to 62% in some cases, this is mere mathematical jugglery,” the senior BJD leader said.
Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was quick to challenge the BJD claim of injustice. Far from losing out, the Odisha government would in fact get an additional Rs 8, 000 crore per annum under the 14th Finance Commission award, he claimed, citing figures to prove his claim. Besides, the state would get additional revenue from coal and other minerals through auction process, he pointed out.
The last claim, however, did not go unchallenged. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 27, Naveen said the state’s share out of the revenue of more than Rs 1 lakh crore earned from coal blocks auctioned till now, would be less than 1 percent. The ‘disproportionately high’ share of coal blocks in Odisha earmarked for the power sector would not only affect the end-user mineral industries in the state, but also substantially reduce its revenue benefits due to the reverse bidding process adopted for the power sector, he claimed.
Patnaik had already sounded the bugle on the occasion of the 99th birth anniversary of Biju Patnaik on March 5 accusing the NDA government of ‘discrimination on political grounds’. “While special packages have been announced in the budget for the poll-bound states of Bihar and West Bengal, no such package has been given to Odisha despite the fact that the state endured two back to back calamities in the form of Cyclone Phailin and Hudhud. Is this not discrimination on political grounds?” he had asked.
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This was preceded by a two-day protest across the state over Central neglect of Odisha organised by the BJD youth wing.
While the economics of the BJD’s claim is a matter of debate given the ‘figure jugglery’ on both sides, there is very little argument over the politics of it. Having figured out that the BJP is no mood to engage in confrontation with him given its compulsions of numbers in the Upper House of Parliament, Naveen has calculated that this is an opportune moment to up the ante against the Centre, a ploy that has fetched him rich dividends through the UPA years without in anyway affecting his ability to cut political deals with the government at the Centre wherever needed.
The Rail budget, which made the highest ever allocation of Rs 2, 517 crore for the state (77% higher than the allocation last year), played a bit of spoilsport in this political game. It actually allocated much more than what the state had asked for in several areas and thus gave the Odisha Chief Minister precious little ground to cry ‘central neglect’. In fact, the only thing Naveen could find fault with in the Rail Budget was the ‘paltry allocation’ for the Sitalapalli wagon factory.
But the 14th Finance Commission award and the Union Budget that came within days of it provided Naveen the opportunity to go on the offensive again. The BJD supremo told party MPs on Saturday to oppose the amendments to the MMDR Act and the Land Acquisition Act in Parliament. The opposition to the last one is curious since the Odisha government is itself facing stiff resistance from the people in acquiring land for practically every industry in the state. Asked about it, BJD leader in Lok Sabha Mahatab says almost all of it is government land and hence does not come under the purview of the objectionable provisions in the Act.
Having all but weathered the storm over the involvement of his party leaders in the mega chit fund scam (the CBI inquiry has gone cold by all accounts), Naveen, who looked highly vulnerable just a few months ago, appears to have got his composure and confidence back. The return to centre bashing is the surest sign of this new found confidence.
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