It was former chief minister Biju Patnaik's dream to set up a second steel plant in the state. His arch rival and three-term Congress chief minister J.B. Patnaik, too, was obsessed with the idea. But not so Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Still, the mineral boom in the international market turned things in his favour. Steel projects worth Rs 1,00,000 crore would come Orissa's way if everything works out fine. Naveen must be a happy man considering the windfall, but the opposition smells a rat. A recent High Court order came in handy for the Congress to chip away at his 'Mr Clean' image. The court quashed the decision of the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation of Orissa to develop a 500-hectare chrome mine at Tangarpara in Dhenkanal with Jindal Strips as joint-venture partner. It advised fresh tender and the opposition called for Naveen's scalp saying the venture had his approval and the Jindals were given Rs 20,000 crore tax benefit. Dubbing the opposition demand 'wishful thinking' the chief minister said the government had gone in appeal to the Supreme Court. The issue created an uproar in the December session of the Assembly. A six-member technical committee had recommended the Jindals after considering two other applicants. The file was signed by industries minister K.V. Singhdeo of the BJP during the previous Naveen regime. It was never presented in the cabinet. Following a hue and cry in the Assembly, a committee headed by the industries minister was constituted to look into the matter. There were differences of opinion in the committee and Biju Janata Dal member Devasis Nayak, who is close to Naveen, demanded cancellation of the tender. The Assembly was dissolved before the committee could submit a report. One of those whose tender got rejected moved the High Court, which struck down the decision. The Jindals moved the Supreme Court first, followed by the state government. The other issue which the opposition is using to attack the chief minister is the alleged favour shown to the Sterlite group, which is setting up an alumina plant in Kalahandi district. The opposition, alleged irregularity in allotting the ; bauxite deposit in Lanjigarh, Kalahandi, to the group. Steel and Mines Minister Padmanav Behera claimed his government had saved some money by way of sales tax, which was not mentioned in the 1997 agreement between the state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation and Sterlite. (The government had leased the bauxite mine to OMC, which then sublet it to the Sterlite-owned Vedanta Aluminium.) Government sources claim that around 40 steel projects are in the pipeline. "There will be new ports, many steel and aluminium projects," said Naveen. "The Congress's efforts to derail them won't succeed." The Congress hopes it would, with support from NGOs and environmentalists who are opposed to industrialisation. ?