Nitin Gadkari said that by March 2020 River Ganga will be 100 per cent clean.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who filed his nomination from Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency today, took credit for enabling Congress general secretary for Uttar Pradesh East Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's Ganga yatra.

"If I had not made Allahabad-Varanasi waterway, how could she [Priyanaka Gandhi Vadra] have travelled? She also drank Ganga water, could she have done the same under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government?" Gadkari asked.

The National Waterway 1 or Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system connects Haldia (Sagar) to Prayagraj across the Ganges, Bhagirathi and Hooghly river systems. The 1,620 km long waterway is the longest waterway in India.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on March 18 conducted a three-day poll campaign in Lucknow ahead of the Lok Sabha elections with her Ganga yatra. Her campaign commenced from her great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru's birthplace Prayagraj and concluded in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi on March 20.

Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari also said that by March 2020, River Ganga will be 100 per cent clean. He said that he is most proud of the Rs 26,000 crore Aviral Ganga project.

Gadkari said that he will be sending a detail project report (DPR) of Rs 12,000 crore to World Bank for connecting Delhi-Prayagraj via waters.

He also assured that one will soon be able to travel from Delhi to Bangladesh via waterways.

Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources Nitin Gadkari will be contesting against Nana Patole of Congress. The BJP had announced Gadkari's name on March 21 in its first list of candidates for Lok Sabha 2019 election.

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