25-feet-tall statue of Vajpayee made by artist from Jaipur

The 25-feet-tall imposing statue of former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee installed at Lucknow has been made by an artist from Jaipur-- Rajkumar Pandit, the Uttar Pradesh government said in a statement issued here on Wednesday.

The bronze statue that was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Lok Bhavan here weighs 5 tonnes and its cost is around Rs 89 lakh.

A team of 65 artists built the statue in six months, according to Pandit.

The artist said that he has till now sculpted the statues of lakhs of individuals, majority of them being "great personalities".

Pandit, who originally hails from Bihar, has his work station based in Jaipur where his team makes statues using metals like bronze, aluminum, brass among others.

He informed that the tallest statue built by him, is that of Arjun, the warrior prince mentioned in the Mahabharat, which is 47 feet tall.

This statue has been installed at Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Rajasthan.

He has also to his credit a 20-feet tall statue of Bharat Mata.