Milking it

The BJP is making efforts to wrest control over the Gujarat’s cooperative sector which can bring handsome political gains for the ruling party, given that the state’s nearly 60,000 cooperative societies have around 123 lakh members.

In February, the BJP, for the first time since the inception of the state, gained control of the Gujarat State Cooperative Bank Ltd (GSCBL) when four BJP-backed candidates were elected to the Gujarat State Cooperative Bank Limited (GSCBL).

In spite of the Congress having 11 of its supporters as directors on the GSCBL against the BJP’s 10, state home minister Amit Shah’s protégé, Ajay Patel, was elected chairman with 14 votes because of cross-voting. In further humiliation to Congress, the party also lost the vice-chairman’s post as BJP MLA Sankar Chaudhary won with 13 votes in his favour.

This will give a significant boost to the BJP, enabling it to hold sway over large tracts of rural Gujarat, where farmers take loans from district co-op banks. The BJP had already wrested control of the Gujarat Urban Cooperative Banks’ Federation a few years ago.
The BJP might get another boost if chairman of the Kheda District Cooperative Bank, Dhiru Chavda, who is also one of the directors of the GSCB, is removed for his alleged role in a Rs3.75 crore scam.

A report submitted by JM Katara and NB Sheikh (both joint registrars of cooperatives) has found him guilty of violating banking sector norms in approving loans worth Rs3.75 crore to Kapadvanj Cotton Sell Cooperative Society Limited, against a false statement of cotton stock.

If the saffron party now manages to get Chavda removed from the chairmanship of the Kheda District Cooperative Bank, it will be another setback for the Congress in the state.

In Amreli, the party attempted to woo diamond workers and farmers by using its power in cooperative bodies and milk unions, having announced incentives for them. Amreli was once a BJP bastion and the party is determined to regain the seat. In the last Lok Sabha elections, BJP minister Dilip Sanghani was defeated by Virji Thummar of the Congress by a narrow margin.

Incidentally, Sanghani, minister for cooperatives and agriculture, is chairman of the bank and a director of the Amar Diary board. He was served notice by the election commission for violation of the code of conduct after an announcement by Amar Dairy of an increase in the milk procurement price by Rs10 per kg in March. “These people are trying to woo the farmers and diamond workers. If the BJP wanted to take this decision, it should have done so before the implementation of the electoral code of conduct,” said Thummar.

The district has a substantial population of farmers and diamond workers. The Amreli District Central Cooperative Bank (ADCCB) recently announced that it would give loans to farmers and diamond workers at 6.5 and 5.5 per cent interest rate, respectively. Amar Dairy has also announced that it would hike procurement prices.
Since coming to power in 2001, the BJP has succeeded in establishing its domination over the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the state urban cooperative banks federation and Gujarat state cooperative housing finance corporation.

Efforts are on to capture the agriculture produce marketing committees (APMCs), fisheries cooperative union and the salt pan workers cooperative. Sources said that by amending the respective laws the government has made it mandatory to give contract of fishing to adivasis for inland fishing. And as a result the BJP’s performance in assembly elections has improved significantly in adivasi areas of South Gujarat having a large number of reservoirs where fishing has been allowed.