Cooperative sector turns saffron in state

PUNE Once known to be under the grip of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the cooperative sector in the state has turned saffron as most leaders controlling

PUNE Once known to be under the grip of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the cooperative sector in the state has turned saffron as most leaders controlling these institutes have switched over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or Shiv Sena. A clear reflection of it was seen in the recently held Lok Sabha elections.

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These cooperative sectors include sugar industry, cooperative banks and milk societies.

Post Lok Sabha election, Congress and NCP have one and three members of Parliament (MPs) respectively with none of them controlling sugar factory or other cooperative institutions. On the other hand, five out of 23 MPs that BJP sent to Lok Sabha have a direct link with the sugar sector. The sixth MP from Kolhapur Sanjay Mandlik, elected on Shiv Sena ticket, also has stakes in cooperatives.

Many others who control various cooperatives left NCP and Congress either before Lok Sabha polls or ahead of upcoming Assembly elections to join BJP. The BJP has fielded most of them for assembly polls.

These were the Mohite Patils from Solapur, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and his son Sujay from Ahmednagar, Ranjitsinh Naik Nimbalkar from Satara, Dhananjay Mahadik from Kolhapur or Harshawardhan Patil from Pune.

Harshawardhan Patil, who served as minister for cooperatives during NCP-Congress rule between 2009 to 2014 and joined BJP in September 2019, controls cooperative sugar factory in Indapur. Patil has now been fielded from Indapur by BJP. Mandlik, a former NCP MP who joined BJP recently, also manages cooperative sugar factory in Kolhapur.

Maharashtra, particularly its western region, has a large network of cooperative institutions. Sugarcane growers or milk producers who have to deal with cooperative sugar mills or milk dairies account for strong voter base to those controlling these institutions. For millers, aligning with party in power helps as it brings monetary benefits such as easy loan and extended credit.

The recent example of government state government extending unsecured loans to Kalyan Kale, a former Congress leader from Solapur defecting to BJP recently is a classic example. Kale’s Sahakar Shiromani Vasantrao Kale Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Limited (SSVKSSL) was given a loan of Rs 75 crore even as it runs into losses. The government also gave Rs 85 crore to Bhima Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd Takli Sikander (BSSKL) which is being controlled by Dhananjay Mahadik even as it has a negative net worth of Rs 30 crore.