She may be an “untouchable” and only 5ft (1.5m) tall but Mayawati - India's “Dalit Queen” and would-be Prime Minister - wants people to know that she is a giant among politicians.

The chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh has ordered officials to tear down her 12ft (3.7m) bronze statue and replace it with a larger one at a cost of almost £500,000.

Diwakar Tripathi, a spokesman for Mayawati (who uses only one name), said that the statue was removed this month - 45 days after its erection - because it was 3ft shorter than others in the centre of Lucknow, the state capital. The new one was 15ft tall and weighed 20 tonnes - the same as the others, he told The Times.

Opposition politicians immediately accused Mayawati of squandering public funds that are desperately needed in Uttar Pradesh, which with 180 million people is India's most populous state and one of its poorest.

Lalji Tandon, a leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in the state, said: “People don't have access to clean drinking water and farmers are plagued by agricultural problems, yet here we have money being spent on statues.”

He estimated that Mayawati had spent 23 billion rupees (£275 million) on statues and other monuments since she began her first term as chief minister of the northern state in 1995.

Mayawati, 52, began her fourth term last year after her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has traditionally represented the lowest levels of the Hindu caste system, won a surprise victory in a state election. She has long been dogged by allegations of profligacy and corruption, fuelled by her obvious penchants for gold jewellery, silk saris and lavish birthday parties. Before last year's election she declared assets worth £6.8 million, saying the money came from supporters' donations. She was also implicated in a corruption scandal in 2003 over a plan for a shopping mall at the Taj Mahal.

Her extravagance seems only to enhance her popularity among India's 165 million Dalits, or “untouchables”, who revel in the success of one of their own. Her new statue was erected next to monuments to other Dalit leaders: the late Kanshi Ram, founder of the BSP, and Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a key architect of the Indian Constitution.

Ajoy Bose wrote in his recent biography of Mayawati: “As the country's most successful Dalit leader ... she has indeed given unprecedented political profile and clout to a community crushed under social prejudice stretching back millennia.”

Mayawati's standing is also rising among Brahmins after her party formed an alliance with the priestly caste to win last year's election. In January she announced her ambitions to turn the BSP into a national party, setting her sights on becoming the national Prime Minister. The Congress party, which leads India's ruling coalition, now fear that she may steal many Dalit votes that it has traditionally picked up in a national election due before May next year.

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