Confident of winning Satara LS seat by over two lakh votes says BJP's Udayanraje Bhosale

Satara, Apr 16 (PTI) Udayanraje Bhosale, a descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, whom the BJP on Tuesday fielded from the Satara Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra, expressed confidence that he would win by a margin of more than two lakh votes, and said the constituency was no longer a Congress-NCP bastion.
Bhosale, who is currently a Rajya Sabha member of the BJP, also said that the situation in the country was favourable for the saffron party.
Talking to PTI in Satara, Bhosale rejected the criticism over the delay by the BJP in announcing his candidature.
"This is a national election and candidates were announced as per the phases. Satara votes in the third phase on May 7 and the candidature has been announced at the right time...I am confident of winning the seat by over two lakh votes," he said.
Bhosale said he was the first BJP MLA from Satara in the 1990s. He was also a minister in the Shiv Sena- BJP government in the state. He then went on to represent Satara in the Lok Sabha for three terms as a member of the undivided NCP.
In 2019, he won the Satara seat as a candidate of the undivided NCP, but resigned within a few months and joined the BJP. However, in the by-election, Bhosale lost as a BJP candidate to NCP's Shrinivas Patil.
The BJP later nominated him to the Rajya Sabha in April 2020. His term was to end in 2026.
"Now, four assembly segments (in Satara) are with the Mahayuti alliance. In Karad North and Karad South, the BJP had secured the second place," he said.
Situation for the BJP was very favourable in Maharashtra and the country, Bhosale said.
"Development is the main agenda. Young people are not interested in politics but development as competition is very high," he said.
According to the BJP leader, he has already completed the first round of campaigning.
Bhosale said the opposition parties' criticism against PM Modi and BJP was stemming out of jealousy and it was an attempt to hide their own inefficiency.
Bhosale's name as the Satara constituency nominee appeared in the BJP's fresh list of seven candidates that it released on Tuesday. With the new list, the party has so far named its candidates for around 430 seats for the polls to 543 seats starting from April 19.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)