A leader of Indian opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked the Union government of India to persuade Nepal government to immediately release water in the Gandak river for irrigation in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. "The Nepal government has stopped the flow of water into the river and hence the canal is running dry affecting agriculture in UP and Bihar," BJP UP unit president Ramapati Ram Tripathi said, according to Indian media reports. He alleged that the Indian government was neglecting its national interest under pressure from the Left, since the Nepal government is dominated by the Left-wing parties. "We want the Mayawati government in UP to immediately ask the Center to engage the Nepal regime in talks and facilitate the release of water in Gandak river as agreed between the two countries," he said. Gandak, which originates in Nepal, feeds the Gandak canal and lakhs of farmers in the four eastern UP districts of Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Maharajganj and Deoria and some areas in Bihar solely depend on it for irrigation.