India, June 6 -- The BJP-led Mahayuti government has scrapped 903 minor irrigation projects in the state, a move likely to become a political flashpoint with opposition parties ahead of local body elections later this year.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday cancelled approvals for micro and small irrigation projects worth Rs.19,721 crore as none of them had taken off. Approved between 2020 and 2023, some of them had been sanctioned by the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, even as 1,000 more minor irrigation projects with an allocation of Rs.1,000 crore are likely to be struck off the list.

Most of these projects are in Western Maharashtra and Vidarbha, largely in constituencies held by leaders from opposition parti...