Chhatrapati Shivaji descendant and NCP MP Udayanraje Bhosale has formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The development took place in the presence of party president Amit Shah and Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis.

Bhosale is the latest prominent leader to quit Sharad Pawar’s party to join the BJP and its ally Shiv Sena ahead of the state elections next month.

On Thursday, Bhosale met NCP chief Sharad Pawar at the latter’s Pune residence in the presence of party leaders Dhananjay Munde and Shashikant Shinde.

It is a homecoming of sorts for the hell-raising royal, who had served as the State Revenue Minister in the BJP-Shiv Sena government between 1995 and 1999.

Shah said it was a matter of happiness for his party that a descendent of the Maratha king has joined it and asserted that Bhosale’s presence will help it in the upcoming assembly elections. The BJP, which had won 122 of the total 288 seats in the 2014 elections, will emerge stronger and its alliance will win three-fourths seats this time, he said.

On the occasion, Fadnavis also voiced his party’s happiness at Bhosale’s decision to join it. He noted that Bhosale had lauded the Modi government’s move to nullify Article 370, which accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

“I am inspired by the works and leadership of PM Modi, Amit Shah and the BJP. I am happy to see that the BJP was following the paths of Shivaji Maharaj to strengthen the country,” saidBhosale, who represented Satara in the Lok Sabha.

Bhosale won the Satara seat by a margin of around 1,30,000 votes in the Lok Sabha elections held this year.

NCP’s Mumbai unit president Sachin Ahir and Shahapur MLA Pandurang Barora have also resigned and joined the Shiv Sena.

Despite the desertions, Nationalist Congress Party chief has maintained that the developments will not have any bearing on the NCP’s Assembly poll prospects