Indore, Sep 11 (PTI) The Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river could be constructed only because of Narendra Modi who was the chief minister of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Sunday as he hailed the prime minister as an "able administrator".

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Chouhan said the then chief minister of Gujarat, Modi, had decided to unmask the hidden design of anti-dam protesters by building the dam.

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He was speaking at the launch of "Modi@20: Dream Meet Delivery" book at a function held at the Bharatiya Janata Party's office in Indore. The book depicts 20 years of political journey of Modi from his days as the Gujarat chief minister to the prime minister. It is a collection of articles written by various writers.

Chouhan said anti-dam activists had put up roadblocks to stall the work of the dam construction on the pretext of saving the Narmada river, which he said is the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

“Narendra Modiji was the chief minister of Gujarat. He and I as the MP chief minister had decided to unmask the hidden design of anti-dam protesters by building the (Sardar Sarovar) reservoir. Frankly, had Modiji not been the chief minister of Gujarat the dam wouldn't have been built on the Narmada river,” he said.

Modi served as the Gujarat CM from October 2001 to May 22, 2014.

Chouhan said during the breach of the Karam dam in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district last month, the prime minister rang him up and bolstered his morale by assuring the Central help.

"The prime minister is an able administrator who takes quick decisions," the CM said and referred to the surgical strike (across the LoC in 2016), the ongoing construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, and the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)