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The rift:
The first Satara royal to enter politics was Pratapsinh Maharaj, who was elected to the Satara Municipal Corporation in 1974.

A few years later, Abhaysinhraje too entered politics and entered the state assembly. He went on to join the Congress.

Everything was fine in the family till 1990 when Pratapsinhraje's wife and Udayanraje's mother Kalpanaraje Bhosle joined the Shiv Sena and challenged Abhaysinhraje. She lost.

The contest, according to Shivendraraje, split the family. "If my uncle Pratapsinh Maharaj was alive, we would still have been one family. After his death, my aunt started all this."

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