In Maharashtra, no rally is complete without the legendary imprint of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Whether it’s the voice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, every speech resonates with the legacy of this iconic king. At all rallies in Maharashtra, people chant “Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji” and “Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Ki Jai”.
In the Lok Sabha elections that began on April 19, royal descendants are making waves in the political arena. The Congress has nominated 76-year-old Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, the 12th descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate from Kolhapur. Shahu has a history with the Congress, having associated with the party for a while before joining the Shiv Sena in the late 1990s.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on the other hand has picked Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhosale to contest from Satara.
Udayanraje has been elected thrice as an MP. He, however, lost a 2019 by-election to Shriniwas Patil of the then undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Earlier, in the same year, he had won on an NCP ticket but resigned and contested on a BJP ticket, only to lose. He is fighting this time against Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar (NCP-SP) candidate Shashikant Shinde. During his election campaign, Udayanraje has focused on the development of Satara.
Shahu Maharaj is up against the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Incumbent Kolhapur MP Sanjay Mandlik, whose father Sadhashivrao Mandlik had won the seat three times in the past. There are six assembly seats under the constituency. Of these, the Congress has MLAs in three, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP has two, and one belongs to the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde.
When News18 asked him why he was contesting the election on a Congress ticket, he said, “During the Independence era, my family supported the Congress. I want to save the Constitution of India.”
Asked why he thinks the BJP is planning to change the constitution when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly denied this, the candidate asked why the BJP wants more than 400 Lok Sabha seats.
Speaking on the matter, Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhosale said the BJP will not change the Constitution of India. “The opposition doesn’t have any issue and that’s why it is making this an issue,” he said.
The Satara Lok Sabha constituency has six assembly seats under it. The BJP-led Mahayuti has four MLAs here while the Maha Vikas Aghadi has two. So, observers say, Udayanraje may be better placed than his MVA rival Shashikant Shinde.
Shahu Maharaj and Udayanraje Bhosale are fighting elections on two different seats from two ideologically divergent parties. But both say they want to serve the people of Maharashtra. During campaigning, Shahu Maharaj is focusing on the development of Kolhapur, while Udayanraje Bhosale is underscoring how Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj worked for the upliftment of people as well as the work done in the 10 years of BJP rule at the Centre.
As both Udayanraje and Shahu Maharaj strictly follow the ideology of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj of supporting all communities, on the poll turf they will have to hold briefs for their respective parties: one is wedded to secularism while the other swears by Hindutva.
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