Mumbai, Oct 24 (IANS): In a huge setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its star nominee Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhosale was trailing behind his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) contender Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil in the Satara Lok Sabha bypolls, as per trends available on Thursday.

Bhosale -- a direct descendent of the Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj -- was a sitting NCP MP from Satara, but had quit to rejoin the BJP early September.

Patil was leading with over 143,150 votes compared to Bhosale's tally 127,000, giving anxious moments to the BJP.

Incidentally, Satara is the same constituency where last week NCP President Sharad Pawar had campaigned in the rain, and admitted that selecting Bhosale was a "blunder" on his part, and solicited full support for Patil.

Interestingly, Bhosale had shocked BJP circles by declaring that if Sharad Pawar decided to contest the Satara Lok Sabha bye-elections, he (Bhosale) would extend his unconditional support to him.