Narendra Modi's Sardar Vallabhai Patel Statue Project Thursday Oct 31,2013

Narendra Modi is building the world's tallest statue at a cost of almost $340 million (Rs. 2074 crore) in honour of one of the country's founding fathers, a project he is using to undermine his chief rivals, the Gandhi-Nehru political dynasty.

The Statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Kevadia, about 100 miles from Ahmedabad, who was first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's deputy and his Home Minister but often at odds with him, is to be built on a river island in Gujarat, the home state of both Sardar Patel and Narendra Modi.

Narendra Modi, who is Gujarat's Chief Minister and the leading Opposition candidate for Prime Minister in general elections due next year, is to inaugurate the construction of the statue on Thursday Oct31,2013, the 138th birth anniversary of Patel

The cost of the 182-metre iron and bronze statue (to be financed by the Gujarat government and public donations)has been widely criticised as being unnecessary in a nation where one-third of the 1.2 billion people live in poverty

At 182m (597ft), it would be twice as high as New York's Statue of Liberty

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday Oct 31,2013( 138th birth anniversary of Patel) laid the foundation stone for the statue of Sardar Vallabhai Patel in Kevadia, about 100 miles from Ahmedabad