Udayan Raje Bhosale with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. (Twitter/@Chh_Udayanraje) After calling on NCP chief Sharad Pawar twice in the past two months, BJP MP Udayan Raje Bhosale met Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday. Although both sides indicated they discussed development projects in Satara district, the development has set tongues wagging in political circles.
A former NCP leader, Bhosale hails from an erstwhile royal family and is the thirteenth descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji.
सातारा नगरपरिषदेच्या नवीन वाढीव हद्दीतील विकास कामांना प्राथमिक सोयी सुविधा अंतर्गत अनुदान मिळणेबाबत आज उपमुख्यमंत्री श्री अजित पवार यांची भेट घेऊन प्रस्तावाद्वारे मागणी केली.@AjitPawarSpeaks pic.twitter.com/c1eL6Ptiol
— Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhonsle (@Chh_Udayanraje) February 5, 2022
“Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj always believed in sarva dharma samabhava. I also believe in sarva paksha samabhava,” he told reporters after the meeting.
Notwithstanding Bhosale’s dramatic explanation, state BJP leaders are closely watching his meetings with the Pawars. “Bhosale is a royal. You cannot take him for granted. He does whatever comes to his mind,” said a party leader. “In 2019 he got elected as an NCP MP in the Lok Sabha polls. But he quit after four months and joined the BJP and campaigned in the Assembly polls. One never knows what he will do next.”
A senior BJP functionary said requesting anonymity, “Bhosale’s meeting with Sharad Pawar was understandable. But when he meets Ajit Pawar also, it cannot be dismissed as apolitical.”
Given that Bhosale and Ajit Pawar had been at loggerheads with each other, Saturday’s meeting has led to speculations that the former is mending fences with the NCP. Though Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are scheduled for 2024, there are crucial local body polls coming.
Insiders in the ruling NCP were quick to point out how in Satara District Central Cooperative Bank elections, an NCP-sponsored panel not only accommodated Bhosale but also ensured his election. It was for the first time since the bank elections that the BJP MP had met Ajit Pawar.
The BJP officially underplayed the meeting saying Bhosale had not said he would relinquish his Rajya Sabha membership or join the NCP. Party leaders also pointed to Bhosale’s recent meeting with Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari to discuss a project related to Satara district.
Bhosale was elected to the Lok Sabha from his home constituency of Satara in 2009, 2014 and 2019 on NCP tickets. After he quit the NCP, Bhosale was sent to the Rajya Sabha by the BJP in 2020 as a reward for campaigning for the party in the Assembly elections. However, before that he had lost a Lok Sabha by-election.
Some local RSS leaders, aware of his cordial equations with the NCP supremo, are said to have never approved of his induction into the saffron party.
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