There is general acknowledgement that the plight of sugar cooperatives in Western region of Maharashtra will be an important issue in the upcoming assembly elections in this part of the state.
The Congress and NCP face the accusation they have ruined the local cooperative movement by indulging in gross mismanagement and financial shenanigans.
Punditocracy’s contention is too many cooperative scams that broke here over the last days will not only queer the Congress- NCP’s electoral pitch but also give the BJP a head start in the polls.
In the recent days scores of prominent Congress and NCP politicians have left their parties and jumped on the BJP bandwagon. Their influence is bound to redound to the advantage of the BJP.
The apostates derive their influence from control over cooperatives as well as general economic operations in the area.
Sources say there are more than a hundred sugar cooperatives in this part of Maharashtra and most of them are controlled by politicians.
In Western Maharashtra most of those running for MLAs hail from the cooperative background. This underlines the importance of the cooperative sector in the politics of Maharashtra.
The fact that Congress/NCP led government indulging in sheer contempt of the Constitutional mandates to appoint SCEA to conduct elections before tenure of current committeesexpire by State legislature extending such expired tenures ad infinitum during August 2013 session is an evidence of a malicious foresight eying these elections.