In the Madhya Pradesh cabinet meeting held virtually last week, Shivraj Singh Chouhan approved amending the Cooperative Act of the state. Due to the corona scare, the government will bring the ordinance and will send the draft to the MP Governor.
The objective behind amending the act and bringing ordinance in this regard is to make dissident legislators as administrators in district central cooperative banks. In short, the BJP govt intends adjusting those MLAs, who could not be made ministers.
Sources also add an important BJP leader Ramakant Bhargava is likely to be made administrator of a leading cooperative bank.
Earlier, the state government was planning to amend the act and a bill was set to be introduced in the Legislative Assembly, but it was unanimously decided to postpone the Assembly’s session in view of Corona. Now the ordinance will be sent to the Governor for permission and will be implemented as soon as she gives her approval.
Readers would recall that it was the BJP government led by Shivraj that had earlier disallowed MPs and MLAs from becoming the Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of cooperatives and a bill to this effect had been passed by the state assembly.
According to the cooperative act amended in 2015, “Apart from parliament members and MLAs, those elected to district panchayats, village panchayats, local municipal bodies, marketing boards or marketing committees will also not be allowed to become presidents, vice-presidents or chairmen, vice-chairmen of the societies”.
Several MLAs want to become ministers especially those who have left congress and joined BJP. In this situation it is difficult for Shivraj to make everyone happy so they are planning to amend the cooperative act in order to accommodate dissident legislators in cooperatives.
There are 38 DCCBs and after amending the act the Shivraj government will settle MPs and MLAs as administrators in these banks.
Earlier, as soon as BJP took over the charge in Madhya Pradesh it had suspended all the administrators appointed by the congress government in District Central Cooperative Banks of the state.
