Sahakar Bharati leader from Chhattisgarh Pritpal Belchandan, who was also member of National Cooperative Cell of BJP, has switched sides and is likely to join Congress sooner than later, said a source from Raipur. Belchandan has already resigned from the state Sahakar Bharati.
Explaining why he resigned from BJP, Belchandan who is Durg DCCB Chairman says the BJP in the state had weakened the cooperative movement during its regime especially by amending the cooperative Act. Strangely, he did not utter a word when BJP was in power in the state and he was its member.
Refuting the charges Belchandan says, “When the BJP government was in power in the state, we had made suggestions to the party with regard to strengthening the cooperative movement but the BJP leaders did not take these suggestions seriously. And I had no choice but to resign because of these serious differences with the party leaders”, he added.
He also accused BJP of not giving importance to its loyal workers. Belchandan’s supporters say their leader is planning to join the congress but the announcement is yet to be made.
Belchandan further said, “Several probes were initiated against me during the BJP regime but I have not been found guilty on any charges. I received the clean chit. So it is wrong to say that fearing a probe I resigned from the party”, he added.
Belchandan has been a member of the BJP for the past 23 years and has also been elected Chairman of Durg DCCB for four consecutive terms. He was also a member of the BJP National Cooperative Cell and could be seen in meetings being held at the BJP headquarters in Delhi.
Belchandan also runs Durg-based multi-purpose cooperative SBACO- Shree Balram Agriculture (Produce and 
Marketing) Cooperative Society, which has been in news for all the wrong reasons.
Those who know Belchandan claim that given his precarious position due to a host of complaints against him, it was expected that he would jump on the Congress bandwagon to save his skin.
Indian Cooperative, at the time of the change of the guard in the state had written a piece on how life is going to be tough for co-operators like Belchandan in a Congress rule. He has made a smart move and has followed the dictum “if you cannot fight an enemy, join him”, said one of the co-operators from Chhattisgarh.
Sahakar Bharati, which is held as an organization active in strengthening the cooperative movement in the country without narrow considerations, has been faulted for supporting the likes of Belchandan and Mukesh of Adarsh Co-operative fame. Reacting to Belchandan’s resignation one of the senior Sahakar Bharati leaders said “it’s a good riddance”.
