In a land of great Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji, not an election passes without his descendent being in fray.  This time around, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has nominated Chhatrapati Shrimant Shahu Maharaj — the 12th direct descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj — as its candidate from Kolhapur Lok Sabha constituency,  on a Congress ticket.

 The name of Shahu Chhatrapati figured in the first list of seven Lok Sabha candidates that the Congress announced for Maharashtra on Thursday night.

 Seventy-six year-old Shivaji scion is the grandson of the great reformer, Chhatrapati Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj, a democrat and an associate of late Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

 Shahu Chhatrapati Maharaj's candidature came a day after he had decided to enter the electoral fray as the people in Kolhapur wanted him to do so.

 Earlier, Shahu Chhatrapati's son  Yuvraj Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, the 13th direct descendent of founder of the Maratha Empire - who had earlier wanted to contest the Lok Sabha polls, had  bowed out of the Kolhapur election race.

 A former President-nominated Rajya Sabha Member, Yuvraj Sambhajiraje announced that he was withdrawing from the LS poll fray in favour of his 'revered father', a move that went well with the people and political leaders of different hues in Kolhapur.  

 Yuvraj Sambhajiraje has announced that he would work hard in tandem with the workers of MVA constituents - Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar) for the victory of his father .Meanwhile,  Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhonsle - the 13th direct descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj --is keen to contest the polls from the neighbouring Satara constituency, where he had been defeated as a BJP candidate in the October 2019 Lok Sabha by-polls.

 It may be recalled that NCP chief Sharad Pawar had contributed to the defeat of Udayanraje Bhonsle by campaigning vigorously for his party's bureaucrat -turned-politician Shriniwas D Patil who trounced the Shivaji  scion by a margin of 87,717 votes.

 The crucial point in the Satara Lok Sabha by-poll campaign was when Pawar addressed a public rally for Patil amid pouring rain last week, a sight that created a lot of sympathy for both the Maratha leader and Patil. The sympathy, coupled with the Udyanraje's unbearable arrogance witnessed on several occasions in the past, worked in favour of Patil. Once a close associate of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Udyanraje had earlier quit the then united Sharad Pawar-led party, resigned from Lok Sabha and joined the BJP. Later on, Udyanraje contested the October 2019 Lok Sabha by-polls on a BJP ticket.  

 Udayanraje's defeat came as a huge setback for the BJP which had not only roped him into the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls and sought to usurp Maratha card from the NCP by using him like a trophy in its campaign.

 The BJP had made it a prestige issue to ensure the victory of Udayanraje. So much so that both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit had campaigned for Udayanraje.