We will link Ganga, Cauvery if voted to power, says BJP chief (The Hindu 21 February 2011)

ATTACKS CENTRE:BJP president Nitin Gadkari addresses party workers during the celebration of completion of Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa's 1000 days in office, in Bangalore on Sunday.
BANGALORE: Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said that the NDA, if voted to power, would link the Ganga and the Cauvery to solve the problem of water shortage in the southern States.
“We will make South Indian States, especially Karnataka, which is facing water shortage, a green and abundant region by linking Ganga and Cauvery rivers,” Mr. Gadkari said at a convention of party workers organised here to mark the completion of 1000 days of the BJP government in Karnataka.
Mr. Gadkari said resources for the proposed river-linking project would be raised by bringing back the black money of Indians stashed away in Swiss banks.
“I am confident that tomorrow belongs to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and we are sure to form the government at the Centre in the next polls. If there is a political party which can change the country's future and effectively handle the menace of terrorism, it is the BJP,” he said.
The BJP chief accused the Union government of failing in several key areas, including national security and poverty alleviation. “The country's borders are unsafe,” he said
Mr. Gadkari criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his statement that: “I am not as much a culprit as I am being made out.” He asked Dr. Singh to specify “what is the percentage of his culpability.”
Taking exception to Dr. Singh blaming coalition politics for his not being able to take stern action on several issues, he wondered why the coalition dharma should come in the way of prevention of corruption and acting against the corrupt.
Alleging that the scams involving the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government were to the tune of Rs. 4 lakh crore against the central budget size of Rs. 10 lakh crore, he said these scams had dented the UPA's image.
Mr. Gadkari urged the party workers in Karnataka to take a pledge to ensure that the party swept all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the State to help the NDA come to power at the Centre.
BJP national general secretary Ananth Kumar alleged that a cold war had started between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Singh. Ministers were issuing contradictory statements on various issues while the UPA constituents were feeling that they had been let down by the Congress, he said.