Dileep Sanghani, a well-known co-operator from Gujarat has broken the jinx for BJP and has become the first-ever President of the apex cooperative body NCUI from the ruling party. His name was proposed by the outgoing President which was unanimously accepted by all the GC members.
Two Vice-Presidents who were elected unopposed are Bijender Singh and K Sivadasan Nair The newly elected Board also co-opted two members-Vishal Singh and Arun Tomar, leaving Ashok Dabas high and dry. The proposal to have Gurpratap Singh Khushalpur as a permanent Special Invitee was also accepted by the Board.
Co-operators thronged to greet Dileep Sanghani as soon as the Board meeting was over in the Conference Hall at the NCUI headquarters. He was soon drowned with flowers. Everybody present in the Hall wanted to have a photograph with him leading to a kind of mayhem. It was quite a sight!
In his first Presidential speech Sanghani vowed to make cooperative central-stage in the govt scheme of things. Seeking support from one and all, Sanghani said that one lac crore Agri-Infra Fund, as announced by the Prime Minister would be all used up by cooperatives in the country.
A hard-boiled co-operator Sanghani has helped the cause of the cooperative movement more than maintaining his party loyalty. Coming from Amreli where his writ runs Sanghani is said to have even supported a Congress candidate for a cooperative post in the district, underlining the fact that co-op has no political colour.
But having said that, it is no secret that it took more than six years of the Modi rule and nearly 40 years of BJP’s struggle to capture the top post in the cooperative setup of the country. NCUI which came into existence in the present form in 1961 had a series of Presidents who either belonged to the Congress party or the Congress supported allies.
In that sense, Sanghani writes a new chapter today in the annals of NCUI. Though a majority of newly elected
board members belong to the old team, Sanghani would be an effective President as in the course of time all others fall in line, said a senior co-operator explaining the odd composition of GC.
Besides, Sanghani has an excellent tuning with the old team who had helped him grab the Nafed Chairmanship in the past, revealed co-operators. They added that in the choice of Sanghnai as the President of NCUI, the old guard have played a clever game.
Explaining further they said that the delinking of NCCT from NCUI was a major setback for NCUI and the job of bringing it back would rest on Sanghani. After all, it was he who achieved the revival of Nafed by advocating its case before the Prime Minister despite the then Agriculture Minister Radhamohan, being not on the same page.
Sanghani’s closeness with the Prime Minister is an asset, NCUI could harness in future to take the apex co-op body to greater heights, they opined. It bears recall that Sanghani was in Modi’s Cabinet when he was Gujarat Chief Minister. Besides, the two have spent time in the same room for years during their political struggle.
Sanghani was also adjudged the youngest Cabinet Minister in 90s when he joined the Chimanbhai Patel Cabinet. He has been a member of Lok Sabha from Amreli several times. “He started his political career at a very young age”, recalls Jyotindra Mehta who was in jail with him during the Emergency.
Besides winning the NCUI Presidential post, Sanghani is also on the Board of several apex level co-op bodies. He is Chairman of apex bodies of co-op banks in the country NAFSCOB. He is Vice-Chairman of the largest fertilizer co-operative in the world IFFCO. At the state level he heads the marketing co-op federation GUJCAMOSOL.
Indian Cooperative wishes him sterling innings at NCUI!
