Congress ministers may give 'Statue of Unity' a miss

Commerce Minister Anand Sharma has already declined Narendra Modi's invitation following row over Sardar Patel

After the political slugfest between BJP and the Congress over legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, some of the Union ministers are likely to skip the foundation laying ceremony of  182-meter tall Sardar Patel’s statue – The Statue of Unity on October 31. The foundation stone will be laid by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

Sources in Narmada district administration said that no minister from the Central government had confirmed to remain present at the function which is being held the 138th birth anniversary of Sardar Patel.

Commerce Minister Anand Sharma has already declined Modi's invitation for the function. In a strong two-page letter to Modi, Anand Sharma has accused Modi of using Sardar Patel's legacy for political gains. Sources in the Gujarat Congress further said that union minsters Jairam Ramesh and Dinsha Patel, along with other colleagues like minister of state Tushar Chaudhary and Bharatsinh Solanki are likely to skip the function.

Yesterday, a full blown political war had erupted over India's Iron Man-Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It began when BJP's prime ministerial candidate Modi said that India's fortune would have been different had he (Sardar Patel) been the first prime minister of India. Soon after Modi's speech, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, countered him by saying that Sardar Patel was a member of Congress party and was secular to the core. Both the Prime Minister and BJP's PM candidate were speaking at the inaugural function of Sardar Patel museum in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

"Why should we attend the function where we are not respected," said state Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi. He said that despite being a state government function none of the Congress MLA have been invited for the event. "Modi is trying usurp the legacy of Sardar Patel and using it for political gains. This being a government function has been transformed into a BJP party event by the chief minister," Doshi added.

Known to be an ambitious project of Modi, the proposed 182-meter tall Sardar Patel’s statue – The Statue of Unity, will be erected on a small rocky island in the middle of the Narmada riverbed facing Sardar Sarovar Dam at Kevadia. The statue will have steel framing, reinforced cement concrete (RCC), and bronze coating.

The Statue of Unity, which is being undertaken by the state-funded trust, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust (SVPRET), will be double the size of ‘Statue of Liberty’ (which is 93 meters) in the US and four times higher than the statue of ‘Christ the Redeemer’ located in Rio De Janeiro. Modi himself heads the SEPRET.

According to government officials, the Indian arm of Turner Project Management, which worked on the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa of Dubai is giving consultancy for the project and construction management. Also part of the consortium is US-based Michael Graves and Associates Inc and German firm Meinhardt India Private Limited.