Rajkot A month after the Dhoraji-Jamnkandorna legislator, Vithal Radadiya, won the Porbandar Lok Sabha seat, the BJP is all set to push this Congress heavyweight to the wall in a sector where his root lies — cooperative.
Already, an inquiry is on against Radadiya in connection with the sale of Rajkot District Co-operative Cotton Marketing Union Limited (RDCCMUL) to a private party at a meagre rate.
This was after the special auditor cooperative sector (Gondal) had complained of gross irregularities in the deal.
Special Auditor (Cooperative Groups) G M Jadeja had said in his audit report of 2007-2009 that in August 2008, not only was the RDCCMUL (established in 1990) sold at an upset price, but was sold despite a ban by the government on use of its property by anyone other than the institution.
Now, Radadiya has been accused of manipulating the voter list ahead of the Rajkot District Cooperative Bank (RDCB) elections, which are to be held in July.
The BJP, which has never been able to wrest control of the RDCB since its inception in 1959, is not leaving any stone unturned to make things difficult for Radadiya.
Radadiya, the chairman of RDCB, was ordered by the Rajkot district deputy collector and election officer Biren Pathak to publish the latest voter list as per the position on March 2009 for the bank, which has over 480 cooperative groups and a total of 180 lakh farmers as members.
The election officer issued orders following a complaint by the BJP-backed groups. The list issued earlier was as per March 2008.
“Although a fresh voter list has been issued as per the deputy collector’s orders, it does not contain resolutions passed by all the mandalis.
The list has been produced without inviting a fresh member list from over 480 mandalis,” said A Kishor, who represents Moviya Sahkari Mandali.