Narendra Modi plans Narmada Poojan Yatra

Bharatiya Janata Party's show of strength today

With the Narmada Control Authority (NCA) directing that the height of the Narmada dam be raised to 110 metres, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the state appears to be making this an issue to kick off its poll campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in the state.

Chief minister Narendra Modi and the entire Gujarat cabinet will embark on a Narmada Poojan Yatra on Saturday morning. The leaders will hold several public meetings before the ceremony at the dam site at Kevadia Colony.

Comparing the work to raise the dam height by ten metres to a one-day cricket match, Modi said the target has been set and work will be carried round the clock for the next four months.

The height of the dam will be raised within the next four months and the government will spend Rs 120 crore before the monsoon sets in. "We have to complete this before the monsoon sets in, otherwise, we will waste another year," the CM remarked.

Taking a dig at anti-Narmada dam activists, Modi said they had stalled the state's progress. "If the Bhakhra Nangal dam project and Punjab were instrumental for the first green revolution, the Sardar Sarovar Project and Gujarat will trigger India's second green revolution," the chief minister said.

Meanwhile, a public meeting is being held at Vijay Chowk in Ahmedabad on Friday evening, which will attempt to project the various BJP factions in the state as united. Modi and senior BJP leaders Suresh Mehta, Keshubhai Patel and Kashiram Rana are expected to attend the meeting.

"We will seek the blessings of Keshubhai Patel at the meeting, before embarking on the Narmada Poojan Yatra," Modi said.

He, however, insisted that the Narmada dam issue has not, cannot and will never be used as a political or election issue. "I want to make it clear that the Sardar Sarovar project is not on the agenda of any political party. Over the past decades, various governments have worked towards this goal. All the previous governments deserve credit for this," Modi stated.

Modi said Suresh Mehta will head the party's election campaign in the state. Keshubhai Patel has been made a member of the central parliamentary board of the BJP, which finalises the names of candidates. The party is yet to finalise the candidates for three Lok Sabha constituencies.