Mumbai, Nov 3 (PTI) Congress MLC Satej Patil on Tuesday targeted the ruling Mahayuti, claiming that attempts were being made to alter the Gokul milk cooperative’s governing structure to prevent the elected panel backed by him from taking charge.
In an open letter, Patil also claimed there were proposals to amend the Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act to increase the number of government-nominated directors in large cooperative institutions, alleging that such moves were aimed at circumventing the verdict delivered by milk producers.
“People’s mandate is being obstructed on technical grounds. What meaning does voting hold then?” Patil asked in the letter.
The Rajarshi Shahu Shetkari Samvichari Aghadi, led by him, won 13 of the 25 seats in the October 19 elections to the Kolhapur District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, popularly known as Gokul. The Mahayuti-backed panel won 12, in a blow to the BJP-led ruling alliance, whose leaders had campaigned together in an effort to secure control of the influential cooperative institution.
Questioning whether laws could be amended merely to secure control of a cooperative after losing an election, Patil said such attempts would amount to betrayal of milk producers who had exercised their franchise. He questioned the very meaning of democracy if elected representatives were prevented from assuming power.
Patil appealed to the people to stand up against what he termed attempts to hijack the democratic mandate of milk producers and resist political interference in cooperative institutions and to ensure that Gokul remained under the control of democratically elected representatives. He asserted that the voice of farmers could not be suppressed through administrative or political tactics.
The cooperative movement was built on the principles of farmers’ participation, collective decision-making and democratic governance, he said, warning that allowing political interference to override electoral outcomes would weaken the entire system.
He said Gokul was not merely a milk cooperative but a major economic institution deeply connected with the lives of farmers in western Maharashtra.
Patil alleged that the cooperative’s enormous financial strength and extensive grassroots network had made it a target of political manoeuvring.
With an annual turnover of over Rs 4,000 crore, Gokul is associated with nearly five lakh milk producers and operates through a network of more than 8,000 primary dairy societies spread across around 1,800 villages in and around Kolhapur.
Its milk procurement and distribution network extends beyond Kolhapur to Mumbai and other parts of western Maharashtra, making it a crucial link between rural dairy farmers and urban consumers. PTI ND GK
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