According to the Centre, the project was launched in 1978 but got delayed for four decades due to ''lack of continuity of budgetary support, interdepartmental coordination and adequate monitoring''. ''The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh took five years to complete the remaining works of Saryu Nahar National Project which was three-fourths completed during the SP government,'' Akhilesh tweeted in Hindi, hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's arrival in Balrampur here to inaugurate the project.

''There are basically two types of people in the world, some who really work and some who appropriate others' work. This is the difference between the government of SP and today's 'Kainchijivi' (ribbon cutting) government. That's why in 2022 elections the BJP is going to be completely wiped out,'' Akhilesh said in another tweet.

He said 2022 will usher in a new era for of the SP and the state will prosper with ''canals of development''. Earlier in a series of tweets, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said Uttar Pradesh is the first state to realise former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's dream project of linking rivers through the Saryu canal project. At least four aspirational districts will also benefit from the project, he said.

In a related tweet, he said, ''The Saryu canal project connecting five rivers Ghaghara, Saryu, Rapti, Banganga and Rohini is the biggest project under 'Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana' to ensure proper utilization of water resources.'' Taking a dig at the previous government, Adityanath said inaction of ''anti-people governments'' had kept 18 agriculture welfare projects languishing since five decades and the incumbent government implemented 17 of them in the interest of the farmers.

According to the Centre, the Saryu project has been built at a cost of more than Rs 9,800 crore of which at least Rs 4,600 crore was provisioned in the last four years.