In Maharashtra's Satara polls, its king vs ex-governor

The bypolls in Satara Lok Sabha seat would be largely one-sided but interesting. Its a direct clash between Udayanraje Bhosale of BJP and Shrinivas Patil of NCP.

While Udayanraje is the 13th descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Patil is a bureaucrat-turned-politician and ex-Governor of Sikkim, who is close to NCP founder-president Sharad Pawar.

The by-polls were necessiated after Udayanraje, the sitting NCP resigned and joined BJP.

The Satara seat over the years had been the citadel of Congress, however, post 1999, the NCP has been contesting the seat. After Udayanraje, a three-time MP, joined the BJP in New Delhi and returned to Satara, he broke down and said that if Pawar himself contests he would withdraw. A section of NCP offered the seat to the Congress and were keen that former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan would contest from the seat but later they fielded Patil.

The seat has been with the NCP for five terms — 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019. While in 1999 and 2004, it was won by Laxman Pandurang Jadhav, the rest three terms it was Udayanraje who was holding the fort.

Former deputy prime minister Yashwantrao Chavan held the seat for four terms — 1967, 1971, 1977 and 1980 — while former MPCC president Prataprao Bhosale also held the seat for four terms — 1980, 1989, 1989 and 1991. Shiv Sena's Hindurao Naik Nimbalkar won the seat in 1996. Patil is a two-time MP from Karad seat.

Parts of Karad seat went to Sangli and Satara during delimitation. Before Patil, the Karad seat was represented three times by Chavan and before that twice by his mother Premlatai Chavan. Udayanraje is very popular in Satara and in 2019 Lok Sabha polls to give him a challenge, the Shiv Sena fielded Narendra Patil, a former NCP MLC and Mathadi leader.