Maharashtra: Kolhapur royal Raje Samarjeetsinh Ghatge rejoins BJP

Mumbai: In a jolt to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) in the sugar belt of Western Maharashtra, Raje Samarjeetsinh Ghatge, a member of a royal family from Kolhapur, rejoined the BJP on Wednesday. 

Ghatge is considered very close to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, however, he left the BJP in September 2024 in the run-up to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections due to compulsions and problems within the ruling Maha Yuti, and joined the NCP (SP). 

In fact, Ghatge contested the Kagal seat of Kolhapur but lost to NCP’s Hasan Mushrif, a close aide of the then NCP national president and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. 

In 2019, he contested the Kagal seat as an Independent, however, lost to Mushrif. 

A veteran, Mushrif, who is the Medical Education Minister in the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP government, is a six-time MLA. 

Since during the 2024 seat sharing, the Kagal seat naturally went to NCP, he quit the BJP to join Sharad Pawar’s party. 

At an induction ceremony in Mumbai, Ghatge joined the BJP in presence of party’s Maharashtra unit President Ravindra Chavan and Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil. 

“I have decided to return to the BJP to work under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis and strengthen the party in western Maharashtra. My focus will be on development and the cooperative sector…Devendra Fadnavis is like elder brother to me,” he said. 

Ghatge also said that before leaving NCP (SP) he has called on Pawar and explained his position.

“The process (of leaving NCP (SP) and joining BJP) started in November 2025,” he said, adding that he would not hazard experimenting any more. “We are in the BJP…what the party says, we will do that,” he said. 

A Chartered Accountant by profession, his first professional venture is Shree Chhatrapati Shahu Milk and Agro Producer Company. He is the Chairman of Shree Chhatrapati Shahu Cooperative Sugar Factory. 

The Ghatge family controls several institutions in Kolhapur.

Given his royal lineage and work in cooperative sector, Ghatge will be an asset for the BJP in the sugar belt districts of Pune, Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara. 

In fact, the Ghatge family is the ancestral family of Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj, the legendary social reformer. 

Shahu Maharaj (born Yeshwantrao Ghatge) was adopted by Queen Anandibai, widow of King Shivaji VI, of the princely state of Kolhapur.

Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj's brother, Shrimant Pirajirao Ghatge, also known as Bapusaheb Maharaj, was the ruler of Kagal Sansthan. His son and former ruler of Kagal, Jaisingrao Ghatge, was the grandfather of Samarjeetsinh Ghatge. His father, Raje Vikram Singh Ghatge, has played in important role in the  cooperative sector.