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Remerger issue: BJP-BJD riding a tiger

Bibhuti Mishra in Bhubaneswar

With the passing of a resolution in the Orissa assembly on Monday reiterating the demand for the re-merger of the princely states of Sareikala and Kharasuan with Orissa, the stage is being set for a showdown between Orissa and Bihar. The ex-princely states are currently part of Bihar.

Revenue Minister Bishwabhushan Harichandan moved the resolution urging the Centre to undo the historic injustice meted out to Orissa at the time of the re-organisation of the states. All the parties supported the demand. In fact, buoyed by the resolution, a number of Bharatiya Janata Party and Biju Janata Dal leaders have started demanding merger of similar areas in other states like Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

Medinipur in West Bengal and some border areas in Madhya Pradesh are also linguistically akin to Orissa. Only Jharkhand Mukti Morcha member George Tirkey sounded a dissenting note asking the state to first take up the development of tribals in the border areas.

Though the BJP, which leads the coalition at the Centre, is also a party to this demand it would have a major problem on its hands if all the parties make a determined bid. In the first place, it would not be easy for it to get Bihar to accept Orissa's demand.

On the other hand, a senior BJP minister says, "This is an emotive issue and nobody can back out, not even the Congress, without wounding Oriya pride. With Vananchal close to becoming a reality, it is now or never for us. Our state unit cannot avoid the issue even though it is embarrassing to our central unit because it is a question of our survival here."

Raising the re-merger issue, which was dormant for decades, may prove costly to the ruling alliance. Says J B Patnaik of the Congress, "We support the demand. The ruling alliance is in power at the Centre too. They have to see it through."

What remains unsaid is that if the BJD-BJP alliance fails in this game of political one-upmanship, the Congress would definitely score vital political points with the electorate.

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