Sahakar Bharati Patron Satish Marathe has indicated that Sahakar Bharati is not interested in the cooperative election race in Uttar Pradesh.
It bears recall that the RSS leaning co-op body earlier toyed with the idea of fighting elections to challenge the hegemony of Samajwadi Party in the State with one of its former officials Vijay Devgan making it public in a statement issued earlier in Lucknow.
Perhaps sensing the ground realities Sahakar Bharati developed cold feet at the last moment.” I have no qualms about accepting the fact that we are not strong in the state which had been under the SP dispensation for last 15 years”, Marathe said to Indian Cooperative.
Readers would recall that co-operative elections are currently underway in the state with the first phase of elections for Primary Co-op Societies already over.
“There are indeed several Sahakar Bharati karyakartas (workers) who are in the fray but that is on individual basis not under the banner of Sahakar Bharati. We are lending support to them wherever it is possible”, Marathe clarified.
”I make no bones about the fact that we are weak in three states including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu, said Marathe. But our strength has been growing steadily in these states and you should watch our performance in the next elections,” he promised.
Meanwhile, Indian Cooperative has learnt that elections in co-op societies in UP are being fought on party lines with BJP and SP running neck to neck against each other. Sahakar Bharati which is not directly in the fray is lending its support to the BJP.
Marathe was, however, hopeful that Sahakar Bharati would register its impressive presence in the co-op elections slated next year in Karnataka.” Without intending to sound arrogant I have a feeling that out of 27 co-op federations in Karnataka we may romp home in 24”, Marathe asserted.
Marathe’s confidence draws from the fact that in large parts of the state his organization is already controlling levers of co-op power. Campco, and Sauhardya are examples.
In UP, Samajwadi Party led by former co-op minister Shivpal Yadav controlled most of the cooperatives. NCUI President Chandra Pal Singh Yadav, a SP man primarily also belongs to the state and has been camping in Jhansi and other areas to garner support for SP candidates, sources inform.