Minister dropped but wife named in Punjab, Shivaji descendant in Maha

THE BJP dropped yet another Union minister from its 12th list of candidates for seven Lok Sabha seats, and instead fielded his wife from the Hoshiarpur constituency in Punjab.

- RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR

The party has also fielded a descendant of an erstwhile royal Maratha family of Chhatrapati Shivaji, who is currently a Rajya Sabha member, from the high-profile Satara seat. Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhosale received BJP's recognition on a seat from where Praful Patel of Ajit Pawar-led NCP, now a BJP ally in the ruling Maharashtra coalition government, was eager to contest.

Bhosale won the Satara seat in 2019 as a candidate of the then-undivided NCP. A few months later, he resigned and joined the BJP. But in the bypolls that followed, Bhosale lost as a BJP candidate against NCP's Shrinivas Patil. Later, the BJP nominated him to the Rajya Sabha in April 2020. His term is due to end in 2026.