Mumbai. Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) president Sharad Pawar said that the opposition will not sit quiet until the ‘Mahayuti’ government is removed from power in Maharashtra in the next two months and a new government is formed on the ideals of Chhatrapati Shivaji. Addressing party workers in Ghatkopar, Mumbai, Pawar criticized the state government over the incident of the fall of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of the Maratha Empire, in Sindhudurg district on August 26.
He said that those in power in the state have no ‘faith’ in Shivaji Maharaj. Pawar said, “I assure you (party workers) that if you show your unity, we will not sit quiet until the government is changed in Maharashtra in the next two months and a new government is formed that protects the interests of the people on the ideals of Shivaji Maharaj.”
The fall of the statue of Shivaji Maharaj installed at Rajkot Fort in Malvan tehsil has triggered a controversy in the state. The opposition has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti of ‘corruption’ and ‘insult’ to Shivaji. Earlier in the day, Pawar joined the protest march taken out by the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) from Hutatma Chowk to the Gateway of India in south Mumbai over the fall of Shivaji’s statue. Elections for the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly are likely to be held in October or November.
