Former Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan may contest Lok Sabha polls from Satara

Mumbai: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has emerged as the consensus candidate of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi from Satara.

The BJP may field Chhatrapati UdayanRaje Bhosale (58), the 13th descendant of legendary Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj from Satara.

Chavan (78) is currently a Congress MLA from Satara district.

Chavan was the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office during the Congress-led UPA regime before becoming the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from November 2010 to September 2014, heading the Democratic Front government.

Chavan had won the Lok Sabha elections in 1991, 1996, and 1998 from the Karad seat before the delimitation. However, he lost the polls in 1999 to NCP’s Shriniwas Patil, the IAS officer-turned-politician, who is a friend of the party’s founder Sharad Pawar.

UdayanRaje Bhosale had won the Satara seat in 2009, 2014, and 2019 for the NCP. However, he resigned to join the BJP but was defeated by Patil in the by-elections in 2019. He is currently a BJP Rajya Sabha member.

UdayanRaje has lobbied hard for the ticket from Satara and is likely to be fielded.

On Sunday, state NCP (SP) President and close Pawar aide Jayant Patil met Chavan at the latter’s home in Karad.

“There was a discussion about the Satara seat. If the Congress high command asks me, I will contest,” he said. When the Democratic Front was in power, the NCP used to contest the seat.

However, the MVA has decided to put up a strong candidate and challenge UdayanRaje Bhosale.

In fact, after the 2022-23 realignment, current NCP President and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar claimed the seat.

However, UdayanRaje was not comfortable joining Ajit Pawar and held a series of meetings with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and also called on Union Home Minister and BJP strategist Amit Shah to contest from the seat.