Maharashtra polls: Congress suffers second setback in Kolhapur

The Congress’s recent decision to replace its original candidate from North Kolhapur, erstwhile corporator Rajesh Latkar, with Madhurima Raje Chhatrapati, daughter-in-law of Kolhapur MP and royal family member Shahu Maharaj, backfired with Madhurima Raje suddenly withdrawing her candidature on Monday. giving the party an unpleasant surprise.

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 the Congress denied him renomination.

In this 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 sparked controversy and Latkar supporters vandalized the party office. With Madhurima Raje now withdrawing her candidature, the main fight in North Kolhapur 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 candidature, Congress state unit chief Nana Patole announced that the party would support Latkar, the former Congress leader initially nominated by the party, but would be replaced by Madhurima Raje at the eleventh hour. “We will support Latkar against Mahayuti candidate Rajesh Kshirsagar,” Patole said.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Satej Patil was visibly upset by Madhurima’s exit and lamented her exit from the race. An emotional Patil can be seen in the video, which has since gone viral, saying, “If you didn’t have the courage to contest the polls, you shouldn’t have contested the race. I would show my strength.”

After the fiasco, Patil spoke to party workers late in the evening and narrated the sequence of events.

“At 2:3 pm, Malojiraje, Madhurima Raje’s husband, called me and told me that Madhurima was going to withdraw her candidature. I advised him not to take such a step,” Patil said.

“After the call, I went to the collection office. Then the whole video surfaced. The situation was out of my control and I was depressed. I couldn’t fully understand what was happening. I held his hand to stop him because it seemed wrong to me. To prevent further escalation, several people advised me to get into the car and drive away,” Patil said.

Madhurima Raje has reportedly withdrawn her candidature amid growing negative publicity over the Congress’ ouster of Latkar. “Madhurima Raja had to reluctantly resign as we could not convince Latkar to withdraw his candidature. Latkar is a dedicated activist and we are withdrawing the candidature of Madhurima Raje in his support,” Shahu Maharaj said.

On the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) side, former MP Gopal Shetty’s exit from Borivali has come as a relief. Shetty, a two-time member of the Mumbai North Lok Sabha (LS) who won by significant margins in 2014 and 2019, filed as an independent candidate after he was denied a ticket in 2024. Claiming that local BJP members have been ignored in favor of “outsiders”, he also expressed concern over the communication gap between the management and the rank and file workers. However, he eventually withdrew and announced his support for Sanjay Upadhyay, the official candidate of the BJP.