Mahanadi river: Odisha's disputes with its neighbours can't be watered down

Mahanadi is the largest river in Odisha, influencing its social, cultural, and economic life for ages

Will the row in Odisha over two water-related disputes — sharing of the Mahanadi river waters with Chhattisgarh and constructing the Polavaram dam in Andhra Pradesh — prove to be weak links in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) effort to mount a formidable challenge to the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the state in the 2019 Assembly election? This question, of course, will be answered by the outcome of the polls. But, by relentlessly campaigning to highlight the indifference of the Centre to safeguard the interests of Odisha in these inter-state disputes, the BJD is seeking to pin down