Samarjeetsinh Ghatge set to return to BJP

Ghatge, who belongs to the Kolhapur royal family of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, had quit the BJP ahead of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections after differences over candidature and seat-related decisions

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader from Kagal in Kolhapur, Samarjeetsinh Ghatge, is set to return to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), senior party leader Chandrakant Patil said on Saturday.

Ghatge later joined the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction on September 4, 2024, and contested the Kagal assembly seat, but lost to sitting MLA Hasan Mushrif. (HT)

Ghatge, who belongs to the Kolhapur royal family of Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, had quit the BJP ahead of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections after differences over candidature and seat-related decisions. He later joined the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction on September 4, 2024, and contested the Kagal assembly seat, but lost to sitting MLA Hasan Mushrif.

On Saturday, Ghatge met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at the Sahyadri guest house in Mumbai, a move that fuelled speculation about his return to the BJP. Shortly after the meeting, he removed the ‘tutari’, the election symbol of the NCP (SP), from his social media accounts.

“Ghatge’s formal induction into the party will take place soon, but he is already with the Mahayuti,” Patil said. He added that Ghatge’s supporters were likely to contest the upcoming zilla parishad elections, scheduled next month, on BJP tickets.

In another setback to the NCP (SP) in western Maharashtra, Nitin Sawant, who heads the party’s Khandala, Panchgani, and Mahabaleshwar unit, has also resigned and is expected to join the BJP soon.