Kesarkar says his ‘something good will come out’ statement was misinterpreted

Mumbai: Maharashtra minister Deepak Kesarkar has landed in controversy over his statement “something good will come out” on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue collapse. The minister on Wednesday said that his statement was shown out of context and misinterpreted. Kesarkar said that he has demanded construction of a 100-feet tall statue of Shivaji Maharaj at the same spot, which he said will be a good thing.

Clarifying his remark, Mr. Kesarkar said he never said that the incident of statue collapse was good. “Only a portion of my statement was shown on television channels because of which it was misinterpreted. It was an unfortunate incident. I am deeply hurt by it because of a devotee of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. I have demanded that a 100-feet tall statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj should be installed at the same site. A bigger and more grandiose statue will be constructed to honour the Maharaj and if that happens, I said something good will come out of it. I did not justify the incident,” the minister said.

Mr. Kesarkar has come under a lot of flak from the opposition, which has demanded his sacking. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray hit out at him saying, “This means a new tender will be floated to build a new structure and there will be a scam again.”

Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Atul Londe said that Mr. Kesarkar and other ministers Chandrakant Patil and Ravindra Chavan should resign. “Mr. Patil is the cultural affairs minister while Chavan is the public works department minister. Their ministries have failed to ensure that a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji is built in such a way that it remains unaffected for years to come. Their ministries failed in their duties. Besides, Mr. Kesarkar has made a statement that only exposes the shoddy functioning of the Mahayuti government,” he said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut alleged the Mahayuti government wanted the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to collapse so that they could build a new one and mint money. Slamming Mr. Kesarkar, he said, “People like Mr. Kesarkar belong to Devendra Fadnavis’s team. It is Mr. Fadnavis’s sin. They are enemies of Shivaji Maharaj. They all only want to make money.”

Calling it a tragic incident, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis urged the opposition not to indulge in politics over it. He said that the statue was a Navy initiative and not a state government project. “The matter has already been reported to the police and they are expected to take further action based on the Navy's findings,” he said.

Meanwhile, NCP leader and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has tendered an apology over the statue collapse incident. Shivaji Maharaj is our deity. I apologise to the 13 crore people of Maharashtra for the collapse of his statue. Be it officials or contractors, action will be taken against those guilty,” he said.