TWO members of royal families, both descendants of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, won from Kolhapur and Satara respectively. While Shahu Maharaj Chhatrapati secured a decisive victory and was leading right from first round, Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhosale had to sweat it out till the last round. In Kolhapur, especially, the Congress has lot to cheer as it will have a representative in Lok Sabha first time after 25 years. Right from the postal ballot and first round of counting, Shahu Maharaj led over his nearest rival and sitting MP Sanjay Mandlik of the Shiv Sena, and his lead surged in every round. Shahu Maharaj, the descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, approached the counting centre in Kolhapur, where enthusiastic Congress workers smeared him with "gulal". He asked them to wait until the counting was finished, saying, “Please wait for some more time." After the victory, Shahu Maharaj, sporting a big smile, said, “This victory belongs to the voters of Kolhapur who have posed faith in me. This is a victory of the ideology of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj..I was leading in all the assembly segments and finally secured a decisive mandate.'' Shahu Maharaj polled 7,50,323 votes while Sanjay Mandlik managed 5,97,014 votes. Shahu Maharaj won by a margin of 1,53,309 votes. Congress leader and former minister Satej Patil, the key architect of party's revival in Kolhapur, said, ''It was a big day for Congress in Kolhapur. At the end of the 14th round itself, it became clear that Shahu Maharaj would win, and the momentum continued. Shahu Maharaj's victory was among the biggest ones in Maharashtra.'' Satej Patil, who had recommended the name of Shahu Maharaj from Kolhapur seat during seat-sharing talks, said, “It was Shahu Maharaj who was keen to contest on a Congress ticket. And we backed him. He is very popular among the people of Kolhapur. There is a lot of respect for the descendants of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. We did not doubt that once Shahu Maharaj is fielded, we will win hands down,'' he said. Emphasising that they had planned the campaigning to perfection, Satej Patil said, “We wanted to encash on Shahu Maharaj's popularity and standing among the people of Kolhapur. We planned his campaigning in a perfect way, leaving no loopholes. At his age, Shahu Maharaj also showed a lot of gumption and courage to criss-cross the length and breadth of Kolhapur to meet and interact with the voters.” Shiv Sena candidate Sanjay Mandlik, who was the sitting MP, shot himself in the foot after he raised doubts as to whether Shahu Maharaj was the real heir, said Congress leaders. ''He is not the real heir to the royal seat,'' Mandlik had said. Satej Patil said Mandlik's comment angered the people of Kolhapur who came out in big numbers to vote for Shahu Maharaj. Kolhapur had registered around 70 per cent voting. “The people of Kolhapur did not like the remarks made by Mandlik against Shahu Maharaj who is highly respected. They have given Shiv Sena and Mahayuti a befitting reply,'' he said. Congress's Udaysingrao Gaikwad won five Lok Sabha elections in a row from Kolhapur from 1980 to 1996. Sadashivrao Mandlik won in 1998 and 1999, and he later won as a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate in 2004 and as an Independent in 2009. "The Congress is making a comeback in Kolhapur. We finally have an MP from Kolhapur after 25 years,'' Satej Patil said.
