Panaji, Apr 18 (IANS): It is only because the National Democratic Alliance government cleaned the waters of the Ganges that Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi could drink the river's water and sail in a boat on her Ganga yatra, said Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday.

Speaking at an election campaign rally in the beach village of Mandrem in north Goa, located 30 km from Panaji, Gadkari said the water of the Ganga would be 100 per cent clean by March-end next year.

"Because we cleaned the Ganga, Priyanka Gandhi could drink its water. Because we built the waterway from Allahabad to Varanasi, she could travel in a boat. Had they been in power, it would have never happened," Gadkari said, taking potshots at the All India Congress Committee general secretary, who had embarked on the Ganga yatra as part of the election campaign in Uttar Pradesh.

"We have finished just 30 per cent of the work. The Ganga is now clean and pure, something which no one had imagined. I promised the country that by next March-end, the Ganga will be fully clean and pure," he said.