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Sena seeks to wrest control of cooperative credit bank
Abhyudaya Cooperative Bank has been a fiefdom of the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, but now the Shiv Sena is trying to wrest control of it, reports Naresh Kamath.
Abhyudaya Cooperative Bank has been a fiefdom of the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, but now the Shiv Sena is trying to wrest control of it.
Elections for the management committee of the bank, which has deposits of over Rs 3,000 crore of mostly the working class, will be held on Thursday.
Currently controlled by former legislator Sitaram Ghandat and his son Sandeep, a Congress leader, now the Sena seeks to take over.
Sena corporator Shraddha Jadhav, her husband Sridhar and Sandeep Raut, brother of Sena leader Sanjay Raut, and former shakha pramukh Shashikant Shinde are among the 17 candidates fighting under the banner of Abhyudaya Bank Democratic Panel.
Sitaram Ghandat and his sons Sandeep and Mohan are also standing for elections. Parel Sena legislator Dagdu Sakpal said he has directed his cadre to help in the poll campaign.
“Since there are sainiks in the fray it is natural we support them,” said Sakpal.
But if the Sena wrests control of the bank, it would get control of the cash reserves as well as the loyalty of the shareholders.
The panel accused the Ghandats of running the bank in an autocratic manner, entering into questionable deals and harassing the staff. But Sandeep defended the charges.
“We are just three members of the family contesting the polls and there is nothing wrong in that,” said Sandeep.
