The Nafed board is meeting today to elect two vice-chairmen –an issue which has been pending for a long time. The board members are tight-lipped as to who are going to be the vice chairmen as the scene as of now is fraught with uncertainties.
The 20 member board is sharply divided along factional lines with the duo of Chandra Pal- Bijender on one side and the BJP cooperators on the other.
”If there is election we are going to win, said Govt nominee Ashok Thakur to Indian Cooperative. We have members from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Punjab; we do have inconspicuous presence”, Thakur added.
On a query from Indian Cooperative that in a Board of 19 members, five hardly matters, Thakur said “there are more on our side about whom I will not tell you anything as of now; we have the support of 10 to 11 Directors” he claimed.
Bijender Singh the man held most powerful in the context of Nafed was equally evasive on the question “I do not wish to impose my will; we have to go by consensus; let all of us meet and see what emerges. “Do not force me to open my mouth chotte bhai”, is how he skirted the issue.
Bijendra Singh however obliquely named Chandra Pal Singh as a man who has to take final call on the probable names. Quite unlike him Chandra Pal Singh Yadav did not pick up the phone Tuesday morning.
The BJP side plans to file 4 nominations. Ashok Thakur said they are not going to make me the vice chairman though Bijeder Singh had promised.
Despite Minister’s promise to revive NAFED there is not much visible at the ground level. But the race for Vice-Chairmenship would inspire anyone into believing that good days are coming back for Nafed, said Bijender on the phone.