The Biju Janata Dal on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre of being anti-Dalit and said it would stage a demonstration before the Governor House on November 24.

BJD leader and finance minister Sashi Bhusan Behera said: “The BJP government is showing apathy towards the Scheduled Caste community by abruptly changing the funding pattern from 90:10 to 20:80 for giving post-matric scholarships to around two lakh SC students.”

He said: “In 2016-17, the Centre used to give Rs 215.80 crore as its share. But with the change of funding pattern, the state had to take a burden of Rs 238.28 crore on this account only. By doing this, the Centre has added the financial burden of the state government.”

Behera said: “With this, the Centre’s apathy towards the SC communities has been quite visible. We will protest against this and stage a demonstration from 8am to noon before Raj Bhavan on November 24.”

On Monday, the BJD had stalled Assembly proceedings over the alleged central apathy towards the Scheduled Caste community, which form about 15 per cent of the state’s population. Shouting slogans against the Narendra Modi government, BJD MLAs had forced Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat to adjourn the proceedings.

BJP MLA Pradip Purohit said the chief minister had written a letter to Union minister for social justice and empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot on the issue. “The ruling party could have waited for the reply instead of making hullabaloo. They are playing to the gallery.”

The ministry of social justice and empowerment was providing about 90 per cent of funds till 2016-17, while the state government was bearing the remaining 10 per cent. However, the ministry has revised the funding pattern from 2017-18 onwards, where the state government has to bear more than 80 per cent of the total expenditure.