Row over Shivaji statue a gimmick to influence Maharashtrian voters: NCP

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Saturday dubbed the row over the installation of a statue of Shivaji as political gimmick engineered by the Bharatiya Janata Party to influence the Maharashtrian voters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will today lay the foundation stone for the grand memorial of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on an island in the Arabian Sea off Mumbai.

"The bhumi pujan of memorial of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Mumbai is just a gimmick to influence voters of Maharashtra," NCP leader Nawab Malik told ANI.

"Earlier also, before Bihar elections, the bhumipujan of Dada Baba Sahib Ambedkar memorial was done by Prime Minister to influence the Bihar poll," Malik added.

During his one-day visit to the state, Prime Minister Modi would also lay the foundation stone for a metro rail project in Pune.

He will inaugurate the newly-built campus of the National Institute of Securities Management at the MIDC Patalganga in neighbouring Raigad district.

Later, Modi will address a public function at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) ground in suburban Bandra, after laying the foundation stone for two Metro rail projects, Elevated Rail Corridors Project and Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL).