Bhubaneswar, July 06: The Western Orissa Development Council (WODC), reconstituted recently, received a jolt today when ruling BJP MLA Balgopal Mishra refused to accept the offer to become a member of the 26-member nominated council describing it as a 'hoax.' "I am thankful to the government for its decision, but unfortunately I am not in a position to accept the assignment as I have stated earlier that this council is for the stooges and cronies of the government," Mishra said in a letter to the government.

Mishra alleged that the council had become a forum to rehabilitate MLAs and certain persons and it had no autonomy. When the first WODC was constituted in 1998, the BJD and BJP MLAs had resigned from it on the ground that it had no autonomy, but the same situation exists today as well, he said.

Taking exception to the nomination of some MLAs as experts in the body, the MLA said they had been rehabilitated there as they couldn't have become its members otherwise. "Such action of the government has not only defiled the sanctity of the council but it has proved its worthlessness,' he said.

The council is actually creating more difference and widening the gulf between coastal and western Orissa which would provide a boost to the demand for bifurcation of the state. The people living in those areas will have no option but to demand a separate state, Mishra, who had openly voiced his support for creation of a new state in the past, said. Bureau Report