Another tough battle is being fought in Satara taluka between the scions of the warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji. This time the battle royale is for control over Ajinkyatara Cooperative Sugar Factory, a power hub in the region.

Former Congress MP and founder chairman of the factory Ahaysinhraje Bhosale and his minister of state nephew, also crown prince of Satara, Udayanraje, have locked horns over the sugar mill named after the hill fort which once stood guardian of the gaddi of Satara.

The elections are scheduled for June 5.

His nephew's growing political ambitions have been the main problem for the Bhosale senior, political observers here feel as June 5 is slated for a major showdown.

The relationship between Abhaysinhraje and Udayanraje strained particularly after the latter fought and won an Assembly by-election against the former's son Shivendraraje last year.

Udayanraje entered politics challenging his then MLA uncle's supremacy over the local municipal council in 1992. He then had built his own group in the municipal council.

He later contested the 1996 elections to the Lok Sabha as an independent candidate while his uncle was supporting the Congress candidate, now MPCC chief, Prataprao Bhosale. Udayanraje remaining in the fray helped Prataprao's defeat from Satara which otherwise has been traditionally a Congress bastion. Shiv Sena candidate Hindurao Naik Nimbalkar had won the Satara seat.

Bharatiya Janata Party managed to pursue the crown prince to officially join the party and he first was made vice-president of the Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation and after his winning the by-elections from Satara, he was inducted in the State Cabinet as the minister of state for revenue.

People of Satara who were with Abhaysinh got divided and some of them having differences with the Bhosale senior readily accepted Udaynraje as their leader which helped him to form his own group against his uncle.

A few local leaders like former Panchayat Samiti chairmen Balibhau Kadam, Shyamrao Phadtare, Jaysingrao Patil, Yashwant Dhone and Bhimrao Ghorpade left Abhaysinhraje to join hands with the Bhosale junior.

Ghorpade later had contested the previous Assembly election against Abhaysinhraje as an independent candidate. He polled 30,000 votes as against Abhaysinhraje's 81,000 votes.

Although, the minister of state has not been in the fray, the Shetkari Panel lead by him today is contesting 20 of the 22 seats in the board of directors of the Ajinkyatara sugar factory.

Heavy politicking is on, stated to be a pre-run of the ensuing Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Satara, although sitting factory chairman, Udayanraje's cousin Shivendraraje has been elected unopposed.

The Bhosale senior has been banking upon his toil for decades together to build the empire called Ajinkyatara group which today has a bank, a chain of cooperative stores besides the sugar factory and the group is now going for a yarn mill.

On the other hand Udayanraje has all the criticism for his opponents who, he has been telling his voters, have cheated the poor farmers by charging them exorbitantly for the lift irrigation schemes which were a failure.