Former Gujarat Chief Minister and expelled rebel Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela on Monday mocked at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his ambitious Sardar Patel’s “Statue of Unity” project dubbing it a “marketing gimmick” and asked him to first unite the CBI and the RBI.

The Prime Minister is slated to unveil 182-metre tallest statue in the world, Statue of Unity (SoU), at Kevadia in Narmada district on the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel on Wednesday.

When the internal fighting among the top brass of leading institutions like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has emerged into the public, the Prime Minister should deal with this crisis first and then speak of unity, Vaghela said.

“Which unity are you talking about?” the former BJP leader asked while talking to reporters in Gandhinagar.

“First unite the CBI, the RBI. Unite for saving the downfall of the Indian rupee, unite for bringing down fuel prices,” he said.

“When you are talking about Sardar, release the jailed Patidar youth,” Vaghela asserted, referring to Alpesh Kathiriya, a close associate of firebrand Patidar leader Hardik Patel, who is in jail on sedition charges. Patel also faces similar charges.

The former Gujarat Chief Minister said, “There can be no comparison between the simplicity and austerity of the Iron Man of India, Sardar Patel, and the construction and the motive behind the Statue of Unity. The project is of around Rs. 3,000 crore, a sheer wastage and unproductive expense of public money when Gujarat is laden with a public debt of Rs. 2,50,000 crore.”

Vaghela, who was credited with building the BJP in Gujarat with Narendra Modi in tow in the late 80s and early 90s, asked: “Why the sudden love for Sardar whose very name you did not like once?”

Vaghela recalled the time when he was the Chief Minister and during an event on the naming of the Ahmedabad airport as the Sardar Patel International Airport, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members dressed in black and waving black flags had vehemently opposed the naming in front of then Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda.

“One shouldn’t have the impression that these people love Sardar… This is just using his name to market themselves. They make a hue and cry of injustice meted out to the Iron Man. When I met Maniben, Sardar Patel’s daughter, she said there was never any injustice to Sardar. He didn’t even have the aspirations to be the PM. Which injustice are you talking about?” asked Vaghela.

“I challenge these people to show me one instance of injustice to the great man,” he said.

The former chief minister said, “I see the unveiling of the Statue of Unity as a desperate attempt by the BJP to gain political mileage and nothing else. They are losing public support. Not a single work was done by this government in four-and-half years for the common man.

“Tribals are unhappy, farmers are committing suicides… The government should listen to them,” he added.

“The UPA government allotted around Rs. 15 to 17 crore for the Sardar Patel memorial near Ahmedabad airport. Has Modi even visited the place once? After UPA, what have you done for it if you love Sardar so much?” Vaghela asked.

In an unprecedented move, the CBI divested Director Alok Verma and Special Director Rakesh Asthana from their duties as the two hit out at each other over bribery accusations in the meat exporter Moin Qureshi money laundering case.

Joint Director M Nageshwar Rao was given the charge of the director with immediate effect. The decision was taken by the prime minister-led appointments committee.

The decision to appoint Rao came a day after Special Director Rakesh Asthana moved the Delhi High Court seeking the quashing of FIR filed against him by the CBI in connection with an alleged bribery case.

The CBI had filed an FIR against Asthana for allegedly accepting a bribe from a businessman, who was related to Moin Akhtar Qureshi case.

Interestingly, before being named in the alleged case of bribery, Asthana had filed a complaint against CBI Director Alok Verma accusing him of corruption and irregularities in 10 cases.

Following the forced leave order, CBI Director Alok Verma moved the Supreme Court challenging the probe agency’s decision.

In another case of internal power tussle, the All India Reserve Bank Employees Association (AIRBEA) on Monday expressed concern over the recent statements made by deputy governor Viral Acharya and sought autonomy of the apex bank.

The association said in a statement on Monday that “Undermining the country’s central bank was a recipe for disaster which the government must desist. Let the two talk and sort out the issues instead of the government trying to ride roughshod over the RBI, what they are trying at the expense of the nation”.

Pitching for “effective independence”, RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said governments that do not respect central bank’s independence would sooner or later incur the wrath of the financial markets.

(With agency inputs)