Pune: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP from Satara Udayanraje Bhosale sparked rumours of rapprochement with the party on Wednesday after he drove NCP president Sharad Pawar from Pune to Satara in his own SUV.
Mr. Bhosale, a direct descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji, has frequently been vocal against his own party. Mr. Bhosale, however, downplayed the road trip. “Many people are speculating about my journey with Mr. Pawar … I do not care who within the party complains to him … I live in my own style,” he said.
Mr. Bhosale was first elected MP in 2009 on an NCP ticket in Satara. He won by more than three lakh votes in both the 2009 and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Soured relations
However, relations between him and the NCP top brass are at an all-time low, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been courting him. The BJP is attempting to breach the NCP’s stronghold in the Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur by roping in leaders like Mr. Bhosale.
In May, senior BJP leader and State Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil said the party would welcome the NCP MP if he wished to join the party.
Mr. Bhosale was earlier with the Congress and then the BJP, before joining the NCP in 2009. He served as the revenue minister in the BJP-Shiv Sena government between 1995 and 1999.
Incidentally, Rajya Sabha MP Chhatrapati Sambhaji Raje, another direct descendant of Shivaji, has already switched political allegiances after being nominated to the upper house with the BJP’s support.