Life and times of Satara’s ‘Dabangg’ Member of Parliament, Udayanraje Bhosale

Udayanraje Bhosale has always been at the heart of controversy for some or the other reason since 1999. Here are his top 5 headline grabbers:

1. In September 1999, Sharad Levhe was murdered and Udayanraje was the prime accused in the case. Levhe’s murder took place on the day of polling of Lok Sabha election, sending shock waves across Maharashtra. He was the then Minister of State for Revenue in the government of saffron alliance. Narayan Rane was the chief minister while Gopinath Munde was deputy chief minister.

The arrest of MP Udayanraje Bhosale had brought Satara to a complete standstill. (HT PHOTO)

His one time supporter, Levhe was working for Udayanraje’s uncle and opposition candidate, Abhaysinh Bhosale in the election. Udayanraje was in custody for 18 months till he was acquitted in the case. He was mostly in government hospital for cardiac treatment.

2. Family feud has dominated Udayanraje’s political career. His uncle Abhaysinh was a former minister in the Maharashtra government and a close associate of Sharad Pawar. Udayanraje also later joined NCP but struggled between the two continued. Bhosale family had a truce during 2014 Lok Sabha election but it was short lived. Both groups fought election at Satara municipal council few month back despite being in the same party.

3. Bhosale had a strained relationship with Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit. But he did not leave a single opportunity to criticise NCP. He particularly used to target Ajit Pawar. NCP workers always used to wonder why party leadership was entertaining him.

5. Udayanraje was also in the limelight for his life style including his fleet of high profile cars and SUVs.