REGALREPRESENTATIVES

Blue-blooded men and women who will bring royal flair to the House of the People

- Ajay Sukumaran, Dhaval S. Kulkarni, Rohit Parihar, Kaushik Deka and Arkamoy Datta Majumdar

YADUVEER KRISHNADATTA CHAMARAJA WADIYAR, 32 |BJP | Mysore, Karnataka

THE DEBUTANTS - ROYALS

A guitar-playing, rock, blues, jazz-loving Maharaja? See A him in royal regalia, presiding solemnly over the Mysore Dasara, and you may find it hard to reconcile the two avatars. But then that's the 27th custodian of the 600-year-old Wadiyar dynasty, adopted by the childless widow of Srikantadatta Wadiyar, who died without naming an heir.

Yaduveer was anointed Maharaja of Mysuru in May 2015 amid much fanfare and some controversy. Royal duties apart, he is now also tracing his predecessor's political footsteps-Srikantadatta was a fourterm Congress MP from Mysorethough this royalty's loyalties lean more rightwards. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Yaduveer is married to fellow royal Trishika of Rajasthan's Dungarpur family. Strange fact? The maharaja has assets worth Rs 9.47 crore, but does not own a car.

A CHHATRAPATI SHAHU SHAHAJI, 76 | CONGRESS❘ Kolhapur, Maharashtra