In a big blow to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra, Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhosale, the descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is all set to quit the party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi on Saturday.
According to reports, Bhosale will be reaching New Delhi along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He will be inducted into the BJP in presence of PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
However, amid all these speculations of Bhosale joining BJP, the Satara MP met NCP supremo Sharad Pawar at his residence in Pune on Thursday. The meeting between the two leaders came two days after Bhosale, who is a descendant of the warrior King Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai.
Bhosale is one of the four NCP Member of Parliament elected from Maharashtra in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He had earlier said that he will make a decision based on what was in the interest of the people of his constituency at a given time.
Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhosale, who is the descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is the 13th holder of the title of Chhatrapati. He has been representing the prestigious Satara Lok Sabha seat for the last three tenure by winning successive elections in 2009, 2014 and 2019.
Recently, Udayanraje Bhosale’s cousin and NCP’s Satara MLA Shivendrasinh Bhosale had also quit the party to join the ruling BJP ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections.
The NCP is crumbling as the party has been the most affected by the desertion of its senior leaders. Just before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, NCP lost one of its strongest leaders, former Deputy CM VijaySinh Mohite Patil along with his son RanjitSinh in March 2019. In a recent major setback, NCP’s poster boy and Mumbai Unit Chief, former minister Sachin Ahir joined hands with BJPs’ ally Shivsena on July 25.
Almost 6 days later, three-star NCP MLAs Sandeep Naik from Airoli, Navi Mumbai, Vaibhav Pichad of Akole, Ahmednagar and Shivendra Raje Bhosale of Javali, Satara along with firebrand Women’s Wing Chief Chitra Wagh joined BJP on July 31.
On Wednesday, former state minister and NCP’s Navi Mumbai strongman Ganesh Naik also joined the BJP. A flock of 60 NCP corporators from Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation also shifted to BJP with Ganesh Naik.
This sudden exodus of leaders from NCP is a huge jolt for the party and it is possibly staring at a collapse if the same trend continues in the days to come.