In blow to Congress in Kolhapur North, royal debutant pulls out amid infighting

Cong now seems to have been left with barely any option other than backing its “rebel” candidate in the fray.

Madhurimaraje's move came amid raging factionalism and infighting within the Congress unit in Kolhapur.

In a jolt to the Congress in the Kolhapur North Assembly constituency, the party’s candidate Madhurimaraje Chhatrapati, who belongs to the erstwhile Kolhapur ruling family, pulled out of the fray on Monday, the last date of withdrawal of nomination.

Madhurimaraje’s move came amid raging factionalism and infighting within the Congress unit in Kolhapur, which is considered to among the party’s traditional bastions in western Maharashtra.

Madhurimaraje is the daughter-in-law of Congress leader Shahu Chhatrapati Maharaj, who had bagged the Kolhapur parliamentary seat in the recent Lok Sabha polls by defeating the Shiv Sena’s candidate by about 1.55 lakh votes.

As per the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)’s seat-sharing pact for the November 20 state Assembly elections, Kolhapur North was allotted to the Congress as the seat is held by the party.

Denying ticket to its sitting MLA Jayshree Chandrakant Jadhav, the Congress first named local party leader Rajesh Latkar as its nominee from the Kolhapur North seat. Later, the party replaced Latkar with Madhurimaraje as its debutant candidate whose husband Malojiraje was also its MLA from the same seat from 2004 to 2009

Latkar however refused to roll back his bid, filing his nomination as an Independent candidate.

Madhurimaraje also launched her election campaign in the constituency, with her candidature supported by Congress MLC Satej Patil.

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Both Shahu Maharaj and Patil tried to convince Latkar to pull out of the race, but he did not agree, even as the Kolhapur party unit seemed to be split over the issue.

Finally, Madhurimaraje was forced to withdraw her nomination. Shahu Maharaj said, “Unfortunately, Madhurimaraje has withdrawn from Kolhapur North constituency. Latkar is a good and loyal leader of Congress. He has refused to withdraw his candidature as an Independent. In this situation, we decided not to contest the seat. Also, taking a step backward is a step forward for making a debut in future.”

Patil was however disappointed. “The withdrawal of Congress candidate from this constituency at the last minute is wrong. I am disappointed. If the candidate was to withdraw, then the ticket should not have been given to her.”

The Congress now seems to have been left with barely any option other than backing its “rebel” face Latkar in the constituency.

Ajay Jadhav

Ajay Jadhav is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, Pune. He writes on Infrastructure, Politics, Civic issues, Sustainable Development and related stuff. He is a trekker and a sports enthusiast. Ajay has written research articles on the Conservancy staff that created a nationwide impact in framing policy to improve the condition of workers handling waste. Ajay has been consistently writing on politics and infrastructure. He brought to light the lack of basic infrastructure of school and hospital in the hometown of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde even as two private helipads were developed by the leader who mostly commutes from Mumbai to Satara in helicopter. Ajay has been reporting on sustainable development initiatives that protects the environment while ensuring infrastructure development. ... Read More

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