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Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan criticised the Mahayuti government on Monday over the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue in Sindhudurg and blamedthat administration put pressure to complete the statue within three months because Prime Minister Narendra Modi had plans to inaugurate it on December 3.
Speaking to ANI, Prithviraj Chavan said "The administration is completely responsible for the incident. The pressure was put to complete the statue within three months. When the sculptor said that it would take three years to make that statue you forced them to do it as PM had plans to inaugurate the statue on December 3." He expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of the inquiry committee formed to investigate the incident and called for action against those responsible. "An enquiry committee has been formed but I don't think that it will work. It will try to save the government," said the senior Congress leader. Expressing his doubts about the effectiveness of the current investigation, suggesting it may not be conducted fairly until a new state government is formed, he said that that the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue has caused hurt to the people of Maharashtra. "The people of Maharashtra are hurt over this incident. Action should be taken against those responsible for the incident. Who decided to complete the statue within three months? The investigation into the incident will not be conducted until a new state government is formed," former Chief Minister of Maharashtra said. Chavan accused the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde of trying to protect himself and demotivate others, claiming that his party has already completed their own investigation and assigned responsibility for the incident. "The Chief Minister is working towards demotivating the soldier. The CM is trying to save himself. We have completed the investigation and fixed the responsibility," he added. Earlier on Sunday, Shinde condemned the collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's statue in Sindhudurg and urged the opposition to stop doing politics over the incident. Speaking to reporters, the CM said that the state government would take strict action against the perpetrators. "Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is the biggest God for us; he is a worshipped deity, his statue falling suddenly is a condemnable incident, strict action will be taken by the government against the person whose mistakes have caused this incident, but I want to say to the opposition party leaders that they should stop doing politics on this," CM Shinde told reporters. "You people should come together and cooperate in how to make this excellent statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj again at the same place as soon as possible, do not do politics for this. The state government has involved big artists in this and soon we will make the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj again at the same place," he added. During his visit to Palghar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologised to Shivaji Maharaj and those hurt by the collapse of the warrior king's statue in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district. Notably, a 35-foot-tall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Sindhudurg district collapsed on August 26. It had been unveiled on December 4 last year as part of Navy Day celebrations, which were held in Sindhudurg for the first time. (ANI)
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