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M Chhaya in Kolkata
A statue of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, which has been gathering dust in a studio for 15 years, has become the bone of contention between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.
A decade-and-a-half ago, the Public Works Department had asked artist Ramesh Pal to sculpt the statue. But thereafter the government could not decide where to install it, and the statue remained in Pal's workshop.
Last week, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation wrote to PWD officials asking for the statue. They wanted to install it at a water pressure station named after Gandhi, who had inaugurated it in 1971.
Though the PWD gave its nod, the Congress suddenly staked claim to the 14-feet-high statue.
Congress leader Somen Mitra wrote to the PWD saying his party's claim over the statue was stronger. He was one of the leaders involved in the initial discussions on installing the statue.
"We want to put up the statue at the Palta water project, which is named after the former prime minister," TMC leader and Kolkota Mayor Subrata Mukherjee said. "If the government doesn't give it to us, we will order another one."
The mayor warned that the corporation would "not allow an inch of land to anyone else [Congress] to install that statue".
But Mitra said, "We have asked PWD authorities not to hand over the statue to the civic body. Why is the Trinamool so interested in an Indira Gandhi statue?"
Mukherjee retorted: "Where was the Congress' love for Indira Gandhi all these 15 years? Why didn't they take possession of the statue earlier?"
And amid all this acrimony, the PWD is trying to decide who should get the statue.
More reports from West Bengal
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