 "Satara MP Udayanraje Bhosale, who is believed to be Shivaji’s direct descendant, recently joined the BJP. He holds vast influence in western Maharashtra Photo: PTI")
“Neither ideology nor policies of the BJP have triggered the ‘incoming’ (of defectors) into the party in recent years. Instead, it is sheer preservation of self-interest. Ants will always invade a lump of gur (jaggery)”
—A Saamana editorial on July 29
This acerbic quote in the editorial of the Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece had appeared when Maharashtra witnessed a fresh round of political defections, largely to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the prelude to the Assembly election. The pique emanating from the BJP’s oldest ally-turned-junior partner was partially unjustified because the outflow from the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party
