Udayanraje Bhosale will formally switch party in the presence of Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Devendra Fadnavis
Finally, the suspense is over. The Nationalist Congress Party MP from Satara Udayanraje Bhosale will formally join the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday at New Delhi in the presence of PM Narendra Modi, Union ministers Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil.
Udayanraje, who is the 13th holder of the title of Chhatrapati which was founded by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on his coronation in 1674, had a meeting with NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday but he had already made up his mind to call it a day.
Udayanraje took to Twitter to confirm his decision to quit NCP and join BJP. "I received inspiration to carry out social work based on the love and blessings of you all. Hoping the same love and blessings will be there forever with me (sic)" Udayanraje tweeted. His cousin Shivendraraje, who represented the Satara seat for the NCP in Maharashtra Assembly, joined the BJP on July 31.
Udayanraje's entry into BJP was due to rapport built by Fadnavis, state water resources minister Girish Mahajan and state woman and child development minister Pankaja Munde. They played a key role to convince the otherwise reluctant Udayanraje to migrate to BJP. Interestingly, during the Lok Sabha poll campaign, Udayanraje had strongly criticised Modi and BJP.
Udayanraje's decision is yet another setback to NCP whose many prominent leaders, including some former ministers, have quit the party to join the BJP and Shiv Sena ahead of next month's state Assembly elections.
Despite strong opposition from party leaders from Satara, Pawar had fielded Udayanraje from the Satara seat in 2019 Lok Sabha election in which he won by a margin of around 1,26,528 votes. In 2014, he had won by a margin of around 3,66,000 votes. Jolted by the substantial decrease in his margin of victory, Udayanraje had raised doubts on EVMs. He had offered to resign and sought elections through ballot boxes. Udayanraje had won the Satara seat in 2009 general election. Before that, he was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and the Minister of State for Revenue in the Bharatiya Janata Party -Shiv Sena government during 1995-1999.
Meanwhile, NCP's former state unit chief Bhaskar Jadhav rejoined Shiv Sena on Friday. Jadhav had quit Shiv Sena before joining NCP in 2004. He represented the Guhagar constituency.
Pawar to launch statewide tour
- Amidst a spate of resignations and defection of its leaders, NCP chief Sharad Pawar will launch a statewide tour to arrest further defections. The first phase of his travel will take place between September 17 and 22 in which he will hold rallies with NCP’s probable candidates, leaders and representatives of allies.
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