Bhubaneswar, April 20 -- By Ashutosh Mishra
Bhubaneswar: On the eve of the elections, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had declared that the demand for special category status to Odisha would be a major poll issue. His party, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), had also sought to highlight state's dispute with neighbouring Chhattisgarh over the sharing of Mahanadi waters in the hope of striking a chord with the voters.
On the ground, however, neither the demand for special category status nor the Mahanadi dispute appear to be an issue with the people. Surprisingly, the fracas over the distribution of Mahanadi waters is not being discussed much by people even in constituencies like Sambalpur and Bargarh which are fed by the river.
Mahanadi, the state...