Maharashtra polls: Congress suffers second setback in Kolhapur
This is the second setback for the Congress in Kolhapur as last week, the party’s sitting MLA from Kolhapur North, Jayashree Jadhav joined the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) in the presence of chief minister Eknath Shinde in Mumbai after being denied renomination by the Congress
The Congress’s recent decision to replace its original candidate from Kolhapur North, former corporator Rajesh Latkar, with Madhurima Raje Chhatrapati, daughter-in-law of Kolhapur MP and royal family member Shahu Maharaj, has backfired, with Madhurima Raje unexpectedly withdrawing her nomination on Monday springing an unpleasant surprise on the party.
This is the second setback for the Congress in Kolhapur as last week, the party’s sitting MLA from Kolhapur North, Jayashree Jadhav joined the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) in the presence of chief minister Eknath Shinde in Mumbai after being denied renomination by the Congress.
In the immediate case, the Congress had earlier announced Rajesh Latkar as its candidate from Kolhapur North only to replace him with Madhurima Raje at the last moment. The move had sparked dissent and Latkar’s supporters had vandalised a party office. With Madhurima Raje now withdrawing her nomination, the main contest in Kolhapur North is likely to be between Latkar, who is contesting as an independent candidate, and Rajesh Kshirsagar fielded by the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde).
Even as Madhurima Raje withdrew her nomination, Congress state unit chief Nana Patole announced that the party will back Latkar, the former Congress leader initially nominated by the party only to be replaced with Madhurima Raje at the eleventh hour. “We will back Latkar against Mahayuti candidate Rajesh Kshirsagar,” Patole said.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Satej Patil was visibly upset with Madhurima’s withdrawal and lamented her exit from the race. An agitated Patil is seen in a video that has since gone viral saying, “If you didn’t have the courage to contest polls, you shouldn’t have entered the race. I would have shown my power.”
After the fiasco, Patil spoke with party workers in the late evening where he recounted the sequence of events.
“At 2:3pm, I received a call from Malojiraje, Madhurima Raje’s husband, and he told me that Madhurima was going to withdraw her nomination. I advised him not to make such a step,” Patil said.
“After the call, I went to the collector’s office. Then the entire video surfaced. The situation was beyond my control, and I became overwhelmed. I couldn’t fully understand what was happening. I held his hand to stop him, as it didn’t seem right to me. To prevent further escalation, a few people advised me to get in the car and leave,” Patil said.
Reportedly, Madhurima Raje withdrew her nomination amid growing negative publicity over Latkar’s removal by the Congress. “Madhurima Raje had to reluctantly step down as we could not persuade Latkar to withdraw his nomination. Latkar is a dedicated activist and we are withdrawing Madhurima Raje’s candidature in support of him,” Shahu Maharaj said.
On the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) side, former MP Gopal Shetty’s withdrawal from Borivali has brought relief. Shetty, a two-time Mumbai North Lok Sabha (LS) representative who had won by substantial margins in 2014 and 2019, had filed as an independent candidate after being denied a ticket in 2024. Claiming that local BJP members were overlooked in favour of ‘outsiders’, he had also raised concerns over the communication gap between the leadership and grassroots workers. However, he ultimately withdrew and announced his support for Sanjay Upadhyay, the BJP’s official nominee.