Mumbai, Aug 27 (IANS): Mounting pressure on the ruling Mahayuti government ahead of the Assembly elections, the Maharashtra Congress on Tuesday demanded lodging of FIRs against the Centre and state governments for the collapse of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue at Rajkot Fort, while issuing a call for ‘Malvan shutdown’ on Wednesday, August 28.

Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole said that it was extremely shameful that Shivaji Maharaj’s statue, built at a cost of around Rs 2.36 crore and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2023 had collapsed, “insulting the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the people of the state”.

“This has caused intense anger among the followers and admirers of the Chhatrapati. Now, the state government ministers are shirking responsibility and pointing fingers at the Centre. We demand that a case should be lodged against officers of the Centre and state governments for this huge failure,” said Patole.

The Malvan Police in Sindhudurg lodged cases against sculptor Jaydeep Apte and structural consultant Chetan Patil for the disaster that has become a raging political issue in Maharashtra.

Addressing the media, Patole labelled the ruling Mahayuti government as “the most corrupt, and taking commissions even for contracts, cement, sand, bricks and iron” and handing over the important project to Apte, an inept sculptor from Thane, the home district of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

“While an amount of Rs 2.36 crore was spent on the statue, another Rs 5 crore was used for the beautification of the vicinity. The work should have been awarded to an expert team which would have studied factors like the saline air, wind-speeds in the coastal location, etc. But in the haste for credits and commissions, the government ignored all this and the result is there for all to see,” Patole pointed out.

Slamming the BJP for rushing through critical projects to gain votes by inauguration at the hands of the PM, Patole cited instances like the new Parliament building, the Lord Ram Temple, Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, etc.

Amid all this, the BJP leaders have consistently slighted the Chhatrapati in different ways, while invoking him during the elections to get votes, he added.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP, Sanjay Raut, said even Aurangzeb did not insult the Chhatrapati in such a manner as the Mahayuti and BJP, demanding the resignation of CM Shinde and sacking of PWD Minister Ravindra Chavan.

Terming the Malvan incident as ‘heart-wrenching’, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray said that statues and monuments are only for political expediency, and the real memorial to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj are his legacy of forts.