Bhubaneswar: Union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said Odisha was facing a constitutional crisis and infighting within the ruling party had come out in the open.

“The state government has deviated from the constitutional tradition and the ruling party is only passing time as they got a mandate in 2014. Definitely people will opt for a change when the right time comes.” Mr Pradhan told mediapersons here.

The governance in the state had almost halted because of incapability of the present establishment, he added.

“All development activities in the state have come to a grinding halt because of a non-performing government. People of Odisha will surely change this government in 2019,” the Union minister said.