According to the PTI, Sanjay Raut, a leader of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), requested on Tuesday that Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde quit over the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue in the Sindhudurg district and claimed there was a scheme involved in its construction.
According to the PTI, Sanjay Raut further asserted that not even Aurangzeb and the Mughals insulted Shivaji Maharaj in this way. On Monday afternoon, the 35-foot statue of the Maratha warrior king from the 17th century, which was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rajkot fort in Malvan tehsil of Sindhudurg on Navy Day (December 4) of the previous year, fell.
Speaking with reporters, Sanjay Raut accused that the statue of the founder of the Maratha kingdom was put up with political motive and laid the blame for its collapse on Prime Minister Modi, Chief Minister Shinde, and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. According to him, the chief minister’s close associates were awarded the statue construction contract. He described it as a grave matter that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is considering carefully.
Sanjay Raut stated that severe winds are inevitable at the seaside, alluding to Chief Minister Shinde’s claim that the statue toppled while gusts were gusting 45 km/h.
An assistant engineer from the Public Works Department (PWD) filed a complaint at the Malvan police station on Monday night. The PTI was informed by a police official that the complainant held the artist and the consultant accountable for the statue’s collapse.
Source: Midday
