Mumbai, Dec 5 (IANS): Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Monday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of a 'deliberate conspiracy' to defame the legendary Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the past few weeks, and wondered why the government is not taking action in the matter.

"The repeated slurs on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj are not inadvertent, but a conscious strategy that is going on in a serialised manner," Patole said, referring to the recent spate of controversial remarks on the great Maratha warrior king.

First, the state Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari started it by comparing the Chhatrapati with Nitin Gadkari and then BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi made disparaging claims on the Maratha legend, said Patole

Soon after, Tourism Minister M.P. Lodha stepped into the picture by comparing the Chhatrapati's escape from Agra Fort (1666) with the rebellion against Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde (2022) and he later became the Chief Minister in June this year.

"And now, BJP legislator Prasad Lad has made a new discovery that the Chhatrapati was born in Konkan Besides, a video of Union Minister Raosaheb Danve has also surfaced on social media where he refers to the Chhatrapati in a disrespectful manner," said Patole.

"There is a common threat linking all these insults to the Chhatrapati and it is the BJP leaders who don't feel anything wrong by defaming and degrading such great historical personalities," slammed Patole.

When such utterances are being made openly in different fora, it was expected that it would be condemned in the strongest words followed by action, but instead, the BJP has gone and defended such perpetrators, he pointed out.

"The BJP should remember that the people of Maharashtra will never tolerate such insults to the idols like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule. The masses will show the BJP its true place," he declared.