Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP from Satara, Udayanraje Bhosale, seems to have failed to decide on whether to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or remain with Sharad Pawar’s party. According to sources, a private meeting of Mr. Bhosale and his supporters in Pune on Monday, where he was supposed to announce his decision, was allegedly scrapped with the MP leaving for Mumbai instead.
The BJP, too, has apparently put conditions on Mr. Bhosale’s entry, demanding that he resign his Parliamentary post before formally joining it – something that has vexed the MP and divided his followers.
While one section has urged the MP not to leave the NCP and resign from his MP post, others say Mr. Bhosale, a direct descendant of the Maratha warrior king Shivaji, can taste victory on a BJP ticket. With defections galore from the NCP and the Congress ahead of the Assembly polls, there has been speculation for the last fortnight over Mr. Bhosale — one of the only four elected NCP MPs in Maharashtra — going over to the BJP.
The MP, who has been a vocal critic of his own party, is disgruntled with the factionalism within the NCP. Last week, in a last-ditch bid, the NCP had sent actor-turned-MP from Shirur, Amol Kolhe, to persuade Mr. Bhosale to change his mind. However, their meeting in Satara came a cropper.
Soon after, Swabhimani Paksha chief and NCP ally, Raju Shetti, too, had called on Mr. Bhosale to dissuade him from joining the BJP, saying that leaders like Mr. Bhosale were required for keeping a strong opposition alive in the State.
Last month, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, during the Mahajanadesh Yatra, had said that the BJP would be happy if Mr. Bhosale joined the ruling party.
However, a section within the BJP is worried that Mr. Bhosale’s entry will again lead to differences of opinion between him and his cousin Shivendraraje Bhosale, Satara MLA, who had recently exited the NCP to join the BJP.
Complicating matters is Mr. Bhosale’s rivalry with yet another stalwart NCP leader from Satara, Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar, who too is disposed to joining the BJP.
