Fadnavis manages to rope in all three major royals of Western Maharashtra under BJP umbrella

Mumbai: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has achieved the unthinkable of managing to bring all three major diametrically opposite royals of Western Maharashtra under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) umbrella. Yuvraj Sambhaji Raje already a BJP Rajya Sabha MP, joined the party in June 2016, followed by Satara MLA Shivendra Raje Bhosale and has now culminated with sitting Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Lok Sabha MP Udayan Raje Bhosale joining the BJP on Saturday.

Soon after joining the BJP, in an oblique reference to the diversion of Neera-Deodhar dam waters to Baramati, the former NCP MP remarked “for the last 15 years in Rashtravadi (NCP) all that happened was block work and percolate. Now after joining the BJP I hope all the stalled developmental works shall be approved”. When asked over his reported differences with former NCP MLA Shivendra Raje Bhosale, he clarified that he had no differences with anyone or had any dislike for anyone.

Udayan Raje Bhosale has had a running royal feud with Shivendra Raje Bhosale both of who hail from Satara and belongs to the royal Satara throne. Whereas, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Raje belongs to the Kolhapur royal throne of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. It will now be an uphill task for Fadnavis to keep the three royals happy and ensure truce between Udayan Raje and Shivendra Raje and victory for Udayan Raje. It remains to be seen as to whether Fadnavis can pull off the royal coup which NCP chief Sharad Pawar could not.

Sources disclosed that Udayan Raje Bhosale has extracted his pound of flesh by making the BJP agree to his pre-conditions before joining the party. Fadnavis who has been on his MahaJanadesh Yatra had to find time to take the royalty on his official chartered plane to Delhi. In Delhi, Fadnavis had to ensure that Udayan Raje joined the BJP in the presence of party president Amit Shah and working president J P Nadda. The ceremony was replete with a banner that mentioned in bold letters of Udayan Raje being the 13th direct descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the backdrop and the bust of the great Maratha warrior king besides the banner.

No sooner had Udayan Raje Bhosale quit the party, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik in a sarcastic jibe remarked that the former MP had joined the BJP just because he could get the permissions to sell off the lands made holy by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The anti-Udayan Raje front in the Congress, NCP and in Satara appear to have joined hands together. Sources disclosed that the NCP is willing to forgo its claim over the Satara Lok Sabha seat if former Congress Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan agreed to contest against Udayan Raje in the Lok Sabha bye-election.

Sensing the galvanizing army against him, sources disclosed that Udayan Raje has made the BJP agree to his pre-condition that if in case there was any last minute hiccup in the Lok Sabha bye-poll, then he be nominated to the Rajya Sabha. That is because, out of the six of the Legislative Assembly segments coming under Satara Lok Sabha constituency, three are currently held by the NCP, with NCP MLA from Satara, Shivendra Raje Bhosale having switched over to the BJP camp.

In the 2014 assembly elections, the NCP had complete domination over the Satara district, winning four of the six assembly segments of the Satara Lok Sabha constituency. Makarand Jadhav Patil had won Wai assembly seat for the NCP, Koregaon assembly seat was retained by Shashikant Shinde for the NCP. Balasaheb Patil won the Karad North seat and Shivendra Raje Bhosale had won the Satara seat. The other two assembly seat’s – Karad South was won by Prithviraj Chavan (Congress) and Shambhuraj Desai (Shiv Sena) had won the Patan seat.

In the May 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Shiv Sena’s Narendra Annasaheb Patil had given Udayan Raje almost a scare by reducing his victory margin to 1.26 lakh votes. Udayan Raje had retained the Satara seat despite the Modi wave securing 5.79 lakh votes as against 4.52 lakh votes of Patil. It remains to be seen whether the Sena agrees to relinquishing its claim over the Lok Sabha seat and also transfer its votes in favor of the BJP. Sources argued that taking note of the emerging Congress-NCP axis against Udayan Raje, the BJP is keen on ensuring that the Lok Sabha bye-election is held along with the Assembly elections, so as to avoid any political mishap.