Why Marathas are deserting Cong, NCP and seeking shelter in BJP, Shiv Sena

The exodus is so overwhelming that three descendants of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the most revered Maratha hero, are now all in the BJP

A strange paradox, this. The valorous Marathas, led by Sadashivrao-bhau Peshwa, a Brahmin, had fled the battlefield after their defeat in the third battle of Panipat in 1761 at the hands of Afghan invader Ahmed Shah Abdali.

Now a different kind of flight is being observed. The leaders of the Marathas are seeking shelter in the secure pastures of the BJP and Shiv Sena, deserting the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), with the Brahmin Devendra Fadnavis at the helm in Maharashtra. The Marathas, who have been dominant in the politics of Maharashtra since the state was born in 1960,