The chairman of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the BJD, Bijay Mahapatra left for New Delhi yesterday to draw the attention of the national leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to these issues.

Besides raising the issue of special category state, Mahapatra would also demand revision of coal royalty and an economic package for Orissa. The BJD had submitted two memoranda to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee on these issues during his recent visit to the State. However, the demands are yet to elicit any response from the BJP national leadership.

More than the BJP, it is the party president Naveen Patnaik's dithering attitude which has put the regional outfit in a spot. Patnaik said at a newsconference here that he was yet to take up the demands of the party with the national leadership of the BJP. Soon after he formed a committee headed by leader of the Opposition Ramakrushna Patnaik to prepare an economic status paper on Orissa which is yet to meet even for once.

The BJD leaders are apprehensive of the fact that the ruling Congress may take advantage of the issue in the by-polls. The BJD president's announcement that his party's support to the BJP-led government at the Centre was unconditional has put the party leaders in further difficulty.Mahapatra is also likely to sort out seat sharing arrangement with the BJP national leadership for the Assembly by-polls. The BJD has convened a PAC meeting on May 3 to discuss the names of candidates for the by-polls.