Guwahati, Feb. 28: The Tarun Gogoi government has not taken a stand on the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the river-linking project as the subject was in the “national interest”, but said it would not allow Assam’s needs to be compromised. The Opposition BJP, on the other hand, came out in full support of the verdict but appealed for a separate strategy and planning to manage the rivers of the Northeast for its overall development. Assam government spokesperson Himanta Biswa Sarma, while refusing to comment on the apex court’s verdict ordering the Centre to set up a committee to implement the decade-old river-linking project in a time-bound manner, said the state government would vehemently oppose anything going against the interest of Assam. “The government cannot comment on the court’s verdict but we will always give weightage to public opinion and discussion on the ruling,” Sarma said. A circumspect state water resources minister Rajiv Lochan Pegu, too, declined to comment on the court ruling without analysing it in detail, but was of the personal opinion that as long as Assam’s interest was not compromised he did not see any reason to object to it. Sources said the scheme envisages inter-linking of the Brahmaputra with the Ganga, the Subarnarekha and the Mahanadi to transfer water of the Brahmaputra to benefit areas in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha. “That Dispur is harping on Assam’s interest suggest Dispur has not rejected the project,” an official source said. Dispur’s cautious reactions were being attributed to the sensitivity of the issue in the backdrop of the ongoing protest over the lower Subansiri project at Gerukamukh on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh Border. The AASU and the AGP, too, did not offer any comment on the ruling but reiterated their earlier opposition to the project. AASU president Shankar Prasad Ray said the order would be discussed in its executive meeting next month while AGP vice-president Apurba Bhattacharjee said it will take a final call only after examining the ruling. The Congress, too, did not comment, with Assam PCC general secretary Haren Das saying he cannot say anything based on newspaper reports as it concerned the judiciary. The Northeast organisation secretary of the BJP, P. Chandra Sekhar, on the other hand, welcomed the order but appealed for a separate policy for the Northeast given its topography and location. “The move was initiated during the NDA’s reign in the nation’s interest. We back it but before and after the masterplan is ready, the views of all sections and stakeholders from the region should be taken so that the problem of flood, drought, drinking water, irrigation and power are effectively dealt with. We feel a lot of water is still wasted as eventually all rivers join the Brahamputra which discharges a lot of water into the Bay of Bengal,” Sekhar said. Assam BJP spokesperson Santanu Bharali also said Assam’s interest has to be protected.