BETUL: Claiming that 30 per cent of the Ganga river has been cleaned up so far, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said Friday that only this enabled Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to drink its water.
The senior BJP leader whose portfolios include River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation addressed a poll rally at Aathner in Betul Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh.
"We have finished only 30 per cent work (of Ganga clean-up) yet. During the last Kumbh Mela, the prime minister of Mauritius did not take a dip in the river as the water was dirty," he said.
"This time, Priyanka Gandhi drank the Ganga's water many times (when she visited Varanasi). Had we not improved the river's condition, how could you have drunk its water?" Gadkari asked.
He also said she could travel by a boat through the river because the NDA government developed a waterway from Allahabad to Varanasi.
People can now visit Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath round the year because the BJP-led government has constructed all-weather roads to pilgrimage centers with an estimated cost of Rs 12,000 crore, he said.
He also spoke about steps taken by the Narendra Modi government on the developmental front and its "decisive actions" against terrorism.