New Delhi: The Congress-Narendra Modi spat
over his announcement of erecting the world`s tallest statue
of Sardar Patel on Friday intensified with the party today
accusing the Gujarat Chief Minister of indulging in "cheap
antics" just ahead of the civic polls.
"The problem with the Gujarat Chief Minister is that he
is back to very, very cheap antics....There cannot be
absolutely any objection to installing the statue of Patel,
but the context has to be taken into account," party spokesman
Manish Tewari told reporters.
Gujarat Congress has complained to the state Election
Commission accusing Modi of breaching the poll code while Modi
dubbed the action as an "insult" to Patel.
Tewari said if the Gujarat Chief Minister was so serious
to honour India`s first Home Minister, he would have
contributed to the renovation of Patel`s memorial in
Ahmedabad.
"There has been no such contribution for the past nine
years," he claimed.
Tewari alleged that Modi`s announcement of erecting the
statue just ahead of elections to six municipal corporations
was to garner votes for the BJP. "His intention is to gain
cheap popularity and score brownie points."
A couple of days back, Modi had announced erection of 182
feet tall statue of Sardar Patel called `Statue of Unity` at
Sadhu Bet, an island on River Narmada, which will be double
the height of `Statue of Liberty`.
PTI
