Maharashtra cabinet minister Deepak Kesarkar on Wednesday defended his “something good may come out of the collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji‘s statue” remarks and demanded the erection of a similar 100-foot structure at the same spot. Under flak from the opposition, Kesarkar said his remarks had been misconstrued.
“We want the biggest statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji to come up in Sindhudurg, the erstwhile headquarters of Shivaji’s navy. This (statue collapse) is an unfortunate incident. A 100-foot statue should be built at the spot,” the state education minister, who hails from Sindhudurg, told reporters.
The 35-foot statue of the 17th century Maratha empire founder, unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 4 last year, collapsed on August 26 afternoon.
The incident snowballed into a political controversy, with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) targeting the Mahayuti government and seeking Chief Minister Eknath Shinde‘s resignation.
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“…..Possibly, something good might come out…that is why this accident occurred,” Kesarkar said on Tuesday, referring to the collapse of the statue.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray hit out at Kesarkar for his remarks on Wednesday. “This means a new tender will be floated to build a new structure and there will be a scam again,” he said.
Reacting to a clash between Shiv Sena (UBT) supporters and workers of BJP MP Narayan Rane at the statue collapse site in Sindhudurg district, Kesarkar questioned the purpose of Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray’s visit to the area.
“I do not support the Malvan incident but there was no need to do politics by going there. Did he even go there before?” Kesarkar asked.
