Bhosale was thrice elected to the Lok Sabha from Satara but as an NCP candidate. He resigned in 2019 to recontest the Satara seat but lost to NCP candidate Shirniwas Patil. The BJP rehabilitated him in the Rajya Sabha. (Express Photo)
The BJP kept the public guessing about its candidate for the Satara Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra for a considerable amount of time. However, it finally put an end to the uncertainty on Tuesday by announcing Udayanraje Bhosale, a Rajya Sabha MP and a direct descendant of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji, as its candidate against Shashikant Shinde of Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar).
Bhosale was thrice elected to the Lok Sabha from Satara but as an NCP candidate. He resigned in 2019 to recontest the Satara seat but lost to NCP candidate Shirniwas Patil. The BJP rehabilitated him in the Rajya Sabha.
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The Satara seat, going to polls on May 7 in the third phase, was expected to be contested by the Ajit Pawar-led NCP as per the seat-sharing arrangement in Mahayuti, but the party was struggling to find a formidable candidate. Bhosale had refused to contest the seat on the NCP ticket under Ajit Pawar’s leadership.
He instead reached out to the BJP leadership to exchange the Satara seat for another seat and contest Satara with him as the party candidate. Bhosale was assured by party leaders of accepting his demand and he had also started campaigning.
Earlier, the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) had approached former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan to contest on its ticket but he expressed his willingness to contest only as a Congress candidate.
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
