-
“Modiji has scolded me only twice in the last three years and that was to tell me I am putting on weight''
“No one can take the Ganga away from me,” said erstwhile minister for river development and Ganga rejuvenation Uma Bharti on Tuesday while announcing her decision to start the long-pending Ganga yatra.
The minister, who gave up this portfolio to Nitin Gadkari and was moved to head the drinking water and sanitation ministry in the recent reshuffle, sought to clarify that she had not lost the prime minister's confidence. “Gadkari has been working unofficially with the ministry ever since its inception, now he has only taken formal charge of it. And in my new ministry, I am still part of the Ganga,'' she said. A day earlier, Gadkari, too, had softened the blow by saying he would only be taking forward what she had begun.
“Modiji has scolded me only twice in the last three years and that was to tell me I am putting on weight,'' said Bharti. “I am still in the cabinet,”' she said adding that portfolio changing was a routine exercise. She said that her new ministry was also part of Modi's flagship project of Swachch Bharat, with a target to make the country open defecation free by October 2, 2019.
Elaborating on her yatra, she said she'd walk along stretches of the Ganga's bank on weekends, raising public awareness on the need to clean up the river. She will start from Gangasagar in the next few weeks.
The slow pace of work in the newly created ministry for Ganga had become a matter of much talk. “I myself spoke to Modiji on several occasions, fretting over the pace, but he said this would take time.'' Bharti said that she'd made a timeline, ranging from five to ten years, for getting the Ganga nirmal (clean) and aviral (freeflowing). She said under Gadkari, too, it would take the same amount of time.
Gadkari, meanwhile, took an overview of his new responsibility later in the evening.
