Congress’ Satej Patil Under Fire for Insulting Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Family

Visibly angry, Patil vented his anger in front of the Chhatrapati family and the presence of the media. “If you had no courage to fight the polls, why did you contest?” Patil angrily declared, accusing the royal family of betrayal. “I have been cheated. You should have informed me earlier... I would have shown my strength,” ranted Patil in front of the media while charging towards Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj. He further threatened that he would “not spare the people” around the Kolhapur MP whom he accused of plotting the entire situation. As video footage of the incident quickly went viral on social media, concerns were raised about how Patil, a senior Congress figure, had disrespected the royal family. His comments were also criticized for disparaging a woman, raising broader questions about the party’s stance on respecting women.

While all this chaos was unleashed interestingly, it was the same Congress party that, during past Lok Sabha elections, had appealed to voters in the name of “गादीचा मान” (honour of the throne). Satej Patil was the person who had extended a traditional Maharashtra Pheta to welcome the royal when the party had announced him as its candidate from Kolhapur. Now, this incident involving a Congress leader’s apparent humiliation of a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and a woman in such a public manner raises significant questions. If a woman from the royal family could be treated this way, what could ordinary women expect from the party?

The backlash against Patil's remarks has brought to light the significance of the Chhatrapati lineage in Maharashtra's politics, which includes two principal representative seats - Satara and Kolhapur. These seats are currently held by MP Udayan Maharaj and Congress MP Shahu Maharaj, respectively. However, this is not the first time that the MVA has insulted the royal family. Various MVA leaders, including Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, and Sanjay Raut, have previously come under fire for their statements regarding the Chhatrapati family. For instance, Pawar faced criticism over his comments during Yuvraj Sambhaji Raje Chhatrapati's Rajya Sabha appointment, and Raut stirred controversy by questioning the documentation of Shivaji Maharaj's descendants.

Congress chaos in Kolhapur North

Apart from this, the withdrawal of Madhurimaraje from contesting the Kolhapur North Assembly Constituency also explains the raging factionalism and infighting within the Congress unit in Kolhapur. As per the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)’s seat-sharing pact for the November 20 state Assembly elections, Kolhapur North was allotted to the Congress as the seat is held by the party. Denying ticket to its sitting MLA Jayshree Chandrakant Jadhav, the Congress first named local party leader Rajesh Latkar as its nominee from the Kolhapur North seat. Later, the party replaced Latkar with Madhurimaraje as its debutant candidate whose husband Malojiraje was also its MLA from the same seat from 2004 to 2009. Latkar however refused to roll back his bid, filing his nomination as an Independent candidate.

Madhurimaraje also launched her election campaign in the constituency, with her candidature supported by Congress MLC Satej Patil. Both Shahu Maharaj and Patil tried to convince Latkar to pull out of the race, but he did not agree, even as the Kolhapur party unit seemed to be split over the issue. Finally, Madhurimaraje was forced to withdraw her nomination. And now, Congress state unit chief Nana Patole, blatantly, announced the party’s support for their original candidate Rajesh Latkar. Therefore, this reflects internal power struggles and an inability to present a united front exposing fractures within local leadership.