Devendra Fadnavis launched his pre-election mass contact yatra on August 1.

A water grid project and lifting water from Konkan to the Godavari basin will make droughts in Marathwada "history", Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis claimed on Tuesday.

Devendra Fadnavis also made light of the outreach campaigns of the opposition NCP and Congress ahead of the Assembly polls, claiming they were receiving poor response in comparison to his ''Mahajanadesh Yatra''.

"The drought situation in Marathwada is grim," he told reporters.

He added the government had created structures to store water in Marathwada under the ''Jalayukt Shivar'' plan, but scanty rainfall in the region led to inadequate storage of water.

He said the grid project and transfer of water from Konkan to the drought-hit region will help address problems of scarcity there.

"Under the Marathwada Water Grid, dams will be inter- linked and water will be taken to villages. It will cost Rs 20,000 crore," the chief minister said.

He further said around 167 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) water from Konkan region will be lifted and transferred in the Godavari basin to address needs of Marathwada and parts of Konkan region.

"These two schemes will make Marathwada's drought history," Devendra Fadnavis said.

On NCP MP Supriya Sule's ''Sanvad'' campaign, Devendra Fadnavis said, "They (the NCP) should have had launched Sanvad campaign when they were in power (from 1999 to 2014). But they did not and that's why their condition is what it is."

He ridiculed the Congress' ''Mahapardafash'' rallies planned to "expose" the chief minister.

"The Congress itself is getting exposed daily and it need not expose others. But good they (the Congress and NCP) have started their yatras, at least they are going among the people under this pretext," Devendra Fadnavis quipped.

The chief minister further said his ''Mahajanadesh Yatra'' has covered a distance of 1641 kilometres, fanning 60 Assembly segments till now.

He added that he intended to cover 150 Assembly seats in 32 districts of the state.

Devendra Fadnavis launched his pre-election mass contact yatra on August 1 and it has covered Vidarbha and North Maharashtra.