Kolhapur, Sep 3 (IANS) In a blow to the BJP, scion of the Kolhapur royal family Samarjitsinh Ghatge on Tuesday joined the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party.
Ghatge, a former close aide of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, is likely to get a ticket from the Kagal assembly seat in the upcoming state elections. Kagal is currently represented by former Sharad Pawar loyalist Hasan Mushrif, who joined the Nationalist Congress Party led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in July 2023.
Welcoming the political development, NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule described Ghatge as a “diamond” and said that we know his worth.
At the same time, Ghatge has appealed to his supporters to join the Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar.
Ghatge’s father late Vikramsinh Ghatge was a two-time MLA from Kagal. The royal descendants of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj have a lot of influence among the local people.
On Tuesday morning, Sharad Pawar went to Ghatge’s house for breakfast and talked to Ghatge and his uncle Shrimant Raje Pravin Singh Ghatge.
Ghatge said, “We discussed various things during the meeting. We have decided to work under the guidance of Pawar Sahab. He is our new guru in politics.”
In 2019, Ghatge contested the Kagal seat as an independent but lost to Mushrif. As the constituency is expected to go to Sharad Pawar’s quota in 2024, he has decided to quit the BJP and join the NCP (SP).
A chartered accountant by profession, Ghatge is the chairman of the Chhatrapati Shahu Cooperative Sugar Factory and the Chhatrapati Shahu Milk and Agricultural Products Company. Apart from this, he is also the head of many institutions in Kolhapur.
Prominent members of the Ghatge family include Bollywood celebrities, Vijayendra Ghatge (film Chitchor) and national hockey player and actress Sagarika Ghatge-Khan (Chak De India fame).
Sharad Pawar is currently on a three-day visit to Kolhapur, where he is meeting the Ghatge family and many other local leaders, workers as well as local leaders of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance.
–IANS
AKS/CBT
