Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) leaders organised a ritual to cleanse the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue on the Yallur Fort in Belagavi on Sunday.
They said that Shivaji has been insulted by the BJP and the Congress, as they used his statue for political purposes.
Congress MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar, in whose constituency Yallur falls, performed a ritualistic inauguration of the statue a few days after Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai unveiled it earlier this month.
This, MES leaders say, was done for political purposes and not for the love of Shivaji Maharaj.
Priests from Raigadh in Maharashtra were invited to perform the rituals.
They said that they brought waters from five rivers in Maharashtra to perform Abhishekam to a small statue of Shivaji placed in front of the 50 ft tall statue in Yallur.
The former MLA Manohar Kinekar, Belagavi City Corporation member Ravi Salunke and MES leaders others were present.
