Coming down heavily on Shahu Maharaj, the MVA candidate and descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mahayuti candidate from Kolhapur Sanjay Mandlik on Thursday said, “Current Maharaj of Kolhapur is not the real Maharaj, He is not belong to Kolhapur, he is adopted. The people of Kolhapur are the real descendants of Shivaji Maharaj.”
However, Mandlik faced strong criticism from the MVA. Sharad Pawar, Sanjay Raut and Congress leader Satej Patil were among those who flayed Mandlik's comments.
Mandlik was speaking at Nesari village in Gadhinglaj. “My father Sadashivrao Mandlik followed all the thoughts of the late Rajashri Shahu Maharaj. This land has the inheritance of equality thoughts of late Rajashri Shahu Maharaj and every Kolhapurkar has the right to the social thoughts of him. But the current Shahu Maharaj is not real.”
Reacting to Mandlik's comments, Congress MLC Satej Patil said, “Mandlik should apologise for his statement. No one will tolerate personal comments on Shahu Maharaj. Chandrakant Patil and Hasan Mushrif of Mahayuti leaders had appealed from the newspaper that no one will pass any personal comment on Shahu Maharaj. Despite that, Mandlik did this. He came to know that Maharaj will defeat him with a margin of one lakh votes.”
Moreover, Sharad Pawar said, “Adoption is nothing new for royal families. The personal comment on the dynasty shows how the ruling parties' level has gone down.”
Sanjay Raut said, “Mandlik Should keep respect for Kolhapur throne. He crossed all the limits and Kolhapur people of Kolhapur will make him sit at home in this election.”
