Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi flagged off 'Run for Unity' marathon in Vadodara to mark the death anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Hailing Sardar Patel, Modi said it was him who had save the country from getting disintegrated.
"Gujarat has been able to march forward only because of unity," he said.
The event is an effort to collect scrap iron to build India's first Home Minister Sardar Patel's 182-metre statue in the middle of Narmada river, which is scheduled to be completed before January 26, 2014.
This statue, which is being constructed at a cost of Rs. 2,074 crore, will be twice the size of the Statue of Liberty in the United States.