Expect cooperation to be new turf in Centre vs State battle

Sharad Pawar has allayed fears of the demolition at the hands of BJP, giving some relief to the worried ‘sahakar samrat’ (cooperation kings). File pic/PTI

Sharad Pawar is considered an authority when it comes to understanding the cooperation sector that has contributed largely to the growth of the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders, and the areas under their command in Maharashtra. With growth came irregularities and corruption which has been probed at different levels. Some inquiries are being pursued by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime at the Centre. The Devendra Fadnavis government also tried to infiltrate into the sector which now is being overhauled by the NCP in particular, to be again the engine of its political economy of sugar mills (cooperative and private), banks, dairies, spinning mills etc. No wonder, then, that the carving out of the new ‘Cooperation Ministry' in the union government and giving of its reins to Home Minister Amit Shah, made people think that the BJP's prime motive is to establish total control of the cooperation sector in Maharashtra.

Pawar has broken his silence over the subject of grave concern. Pawar has allayed the fears of the demolition at the hands of BJP, giving some relief to the worried ‘sahakar samrat' (cooperation kings). But his statement, if taken as a challenge by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, is likely to trigger yet another Centre versus state battle, whenever the Centre decides to implement reforms through new legislation in this matter. "The Centre does not have any constitutional right to interfere in the state's cooperation laws because it is the state subject. Talks of the sector in Maharashtra being dominated by the Centre are meaningless," Pawar said in Baramati on Sunday. Until last week, the cooperation department was part of the union agriculture ministry. At this juncture, the opinion of Pawar, the former union agriculture minister, who has dealt with the cooperation sector for about five decades, matters most. "I was agriculture minister for 10 years. The cooperation department existed then. It's not something new," he added.

Will Pawar's prophecy stay undented? At the back of his mind, Pawar must have thought about what could actually be in store in the Parliament. His colleagues in the Maha Vikas Aghadi have sounded a warning bell, doubting the Centre's real motive. They fear the new laws coming up to degenerate their control. In Gujarat and Karnataka, where cooperatives thrive, the BJP has its governments but it hasn't completely wiped out the non-BJP representation and influence in the cooperatives there. Maharashtra is hugely important in the BJP's scheme of politics, because it does not control many cooperatives here, and what it has, are mostly the ones managed by the former Congress and NCP leaders, who switched over to the BJP since 2014. Some ‘original' BJP leaders did try to explore the value of cooperatives in the rural economy and politics. They attempted to, but did not perform at par with their Congress-NCP counterparts. Some BJP leaders shunned cooperatives for the private ownership of sugar mills. However, the party has achieved excellent results in the urban cooperative banking sector. Rural banking and their apex body (which is under the Centre's investigation now) is still a mirage for them as far as leading it is concerned.

Fadnavis says the people who haven't harmed the cooperation movement are happy but the corrupt ones have a reason to be worried. He said, "It is because Amitbhai Shah will be heading the new ministry. Amitbhai knows the sector in and out because he joined politics after working in the cooperation sector." Samajhne walon ko ishara kafi hai?

Will Munde's lotus bloom?

A new crisis is looming large in the BJP, as Pankaja Munde left suddenly for New Delhi on Sunday after over a dozen supporters quit their party positions, in protest of the refusal to give her MP sister Dr Pritam a berth in the Modi team expansion. At a media conference on Friday, she said the party decision was accepted, but not without giving hints that the unexpected development gave her supporters a reason to be angry. While she said the party does not approve any concept such as ‘Team Narendra or Team Devendra,' because the party puts the country and itself above individuals, the sarcasm in her expression suggested mostly the ‘invisible' unrest and rage inside her. In the past seven years, Pankaja has put up a show of strength when things went against her. The defeat at the hands of estranged cousin Dhananjay and a feeling of being ignored by the party has added to her discomfort in the BJP. Her supporters are expecting her Delhi visit to be for a patient hearing by the party seniors.

Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore
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