Ajit Pawar visits Malvan fort, vows to erect grand Shivaji statue at same spot

Malvan: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday visited the Rajkot fort here where a 35-foot statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj collapsed earlier this week and vowed to erect a grand structure of the warrior king at the same place.

In a post on X, Pawar called Shivaji the pride and self-respect of Maharashtra.

“Very soon, a grand statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj will be installed at the same place. This is my word,” Pawar said.

On Wednesday, Pawar apologised to the people of the state for the collapse of the structure, which was installed in the coastal Sindhudurg district’s Malvan tehsil, around 480km from Mumbai. On Thursday, his party NCP also staged a protest against the collapse of the statue.

Amid relentless attacks by the opposition over the episode, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday asserted he would not hesitate to touch the feet of the warrior king 100 times and apologise for the incident if required.

The government has set up a technical committee to find out the reasons for the statue collapse. It has pointed out that the Indian Navy handled the project.