Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 22: State finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat Sunday termed the Congress anti-Orissa, following former Union environment and forest minister Jayanthi Natarajan’s statement about Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi asking her not to accord clearance to proposed mining projects in the Niyamgiri Hills.
“Rahul Gandhi had told the then Union environment minister (Jayanthi) Natarajan not to accord environmental clearance to the proposed mining project in Niyamgiri Hills. It proved that Rahul Gandhi is working against the development of Orissa by throttling projects in the state,” Amat said.
Amat claimed that the country’s biggest political party would have been wiped out in the state if Natarajan had made the revelation about the Niyamgiri project before the 2014 general and Assembly elections.
“The Congress would not have won a single Assembly seat in state in the last elections had Natarajan revealed party vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s tactical move to stop mining atop Niyamgiri hills,” Amat said. “The Congress would have faced the situation it did in Delhi,” he said.
This attitude of Rahul Gandhi clearly indicated that he worked against the interest of the state, the minister said.
However, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Prasad Harichandan refuted the allegation. “Rahul Gandhi is not against industrial development. He did it only to protect the poor Niyamgiri tribals. Amat is saying it only to gain political mileage. Let us see whether people accept it or not,” Harichandan said.
The Union minister had recently revealed that she had not given environment clearance to the Niyamgiri mining project because of Rahul Gandhi’s intervention.
The state government had pushed for mining in the Niyamgiri hills, which has a good deposit of bauxite ore, to cater a big aluminium plant in the state.