"When Vajpayee was Prime Minister, the river linking scheme was framed so that no farmer would remain devoid of water for his fields and no area would suffer drought," Advani said, while dedicating the Narmada-Kshipra river linking scheme at Ujjaini village near here.
He expressed regret that after the BJP-led NDA was voted out of power in 2004, no action was taken on the river linking scheme.
The senior BJP leader also recalled that in 2012, even the Supreme Court had passed an order that a committee of ministers and officers should hold a meeting every two months on the issue.
He said that by linking Narmada with Kshipra in just 14 months, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had done a commendable job.
"By linking these two rivers, Chouhan has fulfilled Vajpayee's dream," Advani said.
Recalling his first visit to Ahmedabad, he said that at that time, the Sabarmati river looked like a dried canal, but after the Narmada river's water was channelled into it, the Sabarmati has turned into a large river.
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