Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's proposal for revival of Ganga-Cauvery link on October 12 got a ready support from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with its president M Venkaiah Naidu saying he would lead a delegation to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to highlight the need to take up the project as a permanent solution to drought.

The ambitious project, envisaging transfer of 60,000 CUSECS of flood flows of Ganga to peninsular region, could become a reality if the Centre and state governments put up joint efforts with people's participation, Naidu said.

The Centre would soon convene a meeting to discuss various issues relating to the ambitious project estimated to cost Rs 3 lakh crores, he said, adding that resource mobilisation should not be a problem for the country.

Earlier, addressing a public meeting at Warangal to mark culmination of his party's week-long "sasyashyamala yatra", Naidu urged the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government to take up on priority basis the linking of Godavari and Krishna rivers within the state.

"BJP will support such a move and will do whatever required to get Central clearances for the project," he said.

Stating that neglect of irrigation sector by successive governments had resulted in widening of urban-rural divide, Naidu said it was time the governments focussed on irrigation as a means to generate employment and achieve self-sufficiency.

PTI