Sushma Andhare: Jaideep Apte got Shivaji statue project due to connection with Nitesh Rane

MUMBAI: The political war between BJP MP Narayan Rane and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray intensified on Thursday, with Thackeray camp leader Sushma Andhare displaying photographs at a press conference of sculptor Jaideep Apte—who built the Chhatrapati Shivaji statue at Malvan—with BJP MLA Nitesh Rane. Andhare alleged that Apte had got the contract for the statue due to his proximity to Nitesh. Nitesh denied the allegations and said he had nothing to do with Apte.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Vaibhav Naik from Kudal in Sindhudurg lodged a complaint on Thursday with the Sindhudurg superintendent of police Saurabh Kumar Agrawal, asking for the registration of an FIR against Narayan Rane. “On Wednesday, Rane told me and my supporters that he would enter our houses and kill us one by one,” he said in the letter. “My uncle Shridhar Naik was murdered on account of political rivalry, and Rane was the accused in that case. Considering his criminal background, please register an FIR against him.” Naik defeated Narayan Rane in the 2014 assembly elections.

The Sindhudurg police booked 42 party workers from both the ruling and opposition alliances for Wednesday’s clash at Rajkot Fort. “We have registered the cases under various sections related to unlawful assembly, hurting public servants and so on, and also filed cases against 100-plus unidentified people,” said Malvan police inspector Pravin Kolhe. A forensic department team from Kolhapur also visited the statue site on Thursday morning for an inspection.

The controversy over the collapse of Shivaji Maharaj’s statue at Malvan within eight months of its being installed turned into a major political issue on Wednesday, with supporters of Rane clashing with Sena (UBT) and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) workers at the site of the statue at Rajkot Fort. On Thursday, the Thackeray camp intensified its attacks on the Rane family.

Sena (UBT) leader Sushma Andhare organised a ‘Jode Mara’ (Hit them with shoes) agitation against the government. Slamming Rane for threatening Sena (UBT) workers and leaders, Andhare gave a new twist to the statue collapse controversy by raising questions on the connection between sculptor Jaideep Apte and Narayan Rane’s son Nitesh. Displaying the latter’s photographs with Apte, she said that she had several such photos. “This could be the reason that Apte got the contract for the statue despite having no experience of building such a big statue earlier,” she said. “Everyone knows that the Rane family thinks Malvan is its private property, and so Apte could have used this connection to get the contract.”

Earlier, Sena (UBT) leaders had alleged that Apte was a friend of Kalyan MP Shrikant Shinde. With the photographs showing Apte and Rane together, the party got an opportunity to target Rane, the old political rival of the Thackeray family.

Nitesh Rane, however, refuted the allegations and went as far as openly lancing a threat at the sculptor. “We have nothing to do with Jaideep Apte,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whose photograph was taken with whom—as followers of Shivaji Maharaj, we will not tolerate this insult to him. The government will take action against Apte, but at the same time if we find him anywhere, we will not spare him.”

Rane also blamed the MVA for the clash at Rajkot Fort. “The MVA had announced that its leaders would hold a protest at 10 am,” he said. “Thus, Narayan Rane scheduled his visit to the fort at 12 pm. But the MVA leaders did not follow their schedule and reached the fort when MP Rane had just left and our partymen were still there. This led to a clash. We have no interest in playing politics over the statue collapse incident.”