New Delhi: Asserting the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has given political stability to the country, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on October 13 said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will very soon become the longest serving Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

"It is a matter of pride that Vajpayee has been the Prime Minister since 1998 and very soon he will become the longest serving Prime Minister after Nehru and Indira Gandhi," Advani said at a function at the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) headquarters in New Delhi on the occasion of the three years of the NDA rule at the Centre.

Stating Vajpayee has been providing leadership to the country for four-and-a-half-year now, Advani said in eight years before Vajpayee assumed office, there had been five to six Prime Ministers.

"Even now we can say that Vajpayee is the longest non-Congress Prime Minister to be in power," he said.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the NDA government has given political stability and an able and honest government to the country and added one of its major achievements was that it had included regional parties in the national government.

"We have strengthened both federalism and democracy," he said.

Advani said the proposal for linking of major rivers was being given a serious thought as its need was being felt all the more because of drought situation in different parts of the country.

Vajpayee saw a presentation on the project before he left on a three-nation tour and efforts are on how to carry it forward, he said.

PTI