The West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee has started taking action against the cooperators who left TMC and joined BJP during the legislative assembly election held this year.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari is on the top of the list who has been accused of running a cooperative bank as the chairman illegally for years. At present Adhikari is the chairman of three cooperative banks including Contai Cooperative Bank, Vidyasagar Central Cooperative Bank, Midnapore and Kanthi cooperative rural land development bank.
It is said the board members of Contai Cooperative Bank have moved a no confidence motion against the Suvendu Adhikari. The Bank has 14 directors out of which 12 have voting rights. On the other hand, the State Finance Department has also started a special audit regarding the complaints of irregularities in the bank.
Demanding the resignation of Adhikari from the post of Chairman of Contai Cooperative Bank, TMC MLA from Ramnagar in East Midnapore Akhil Giri said, “He has been the chairman of Contai Cooperative Bank for three consecutive terms since 2009. He was last elected chairman in 2016.
According to Section 11 of the Cooperatives Act, no one can be chairman for 3 consecutive terms. But in this case Adhikari did not follow the rules and regulations”, he claimed. He accused Adhikari for his involvement in financial misappropriation and irregularities in recruitment.
The state government has conducted a special audit of 10 cooperative banks of the state. The audit has been completed and the report will be submitted to Principal Secretary, Cooperative, West Bengal.
One of the directors of the apex body of Urban Cooperative Banks and Credit Societies -Nafcub Gopal Acharjee said that the state government is conducting special audit in the cooperative bank and the audit of Raniganj Cooperative Bank was also conducted but I am sure no loopholes will be found in my bank, he claimed. Gopal is also the one who left the TMC and joined BJP.
The purpose of conducting the auditing of cooperative banks is only to find the records against the leaders who joined BJP, so that the government can take stringent action against them, said Acharjee.
However, the East Midnapore district Trinamool Congress leadership says that Suvendu has illegally held the post of chairman of various cooperative banks. They have urged the state government to remove Suvendu from all his posts.