Jairam Ramesh gets invitation to Statue of Unity’s ceremony

Chief Minister Narendra Modi has put his known detractor Jairam Ramesh in a quandary. He has invited the Union Minister for Rural Development to the groundbreaking ceremony of a giant statue of Sardar Patel called the ‘Statue of Unity’ on

October 31. Addressing the Congress leader as “My dear Jairamji”,Modi,who has been often targeted by Ramesh and compared to self-destructive “Bhasmasur” by him,said that project is mentored by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Rashtriya Ekta Trust and stressed that the the entity has been kept at “an arms’ length from government”.

“It is our belief that the monument will become an important cornerstone in the cultural and social life of our great nation,and hence we have kept this entity at an arms’ length from government to enable co-option of eminent persons from all walks of life,” Modi said in his letter to Ramesh. He,however,also mentioned that he chairs the Trust,which is a Gujarat government entity,in an ex-officio capacity. The BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate concluded the letter with his “warm personal regards”.