Winner Chandra Pal takes town by storm; meets Minister & co-operators

Kribhco Chairman Chandra Pal Singh Yadav, who rose to fame by notching the top post in the global co-operative elections, wound up his Delhi trip, meeting practically everyone who stood by him in the elections.

Chandra Pal also met Junior Cooperative Union Minister B L Verma in his office and thanked him for his support. Verma tweeted about the meeting “Kribhco Chairman Chandrapal Singh Yadav and NAFED Chairman Bijendra Singh came to meet me and we discussed on the issues of strengthening co-ops.”

“I also intend to meet Union Minister Amit Shah, as soon as he gives time”, said Chandra Pal to the Indian Cooperative team, which went to greet him at his Kribhco office Wednesday afternoon. Sources said Chandra Pal’s supporters are planning a big bash to celebrate the victory and they want the participation of Amit Shah in the event.

For the two days that he spent in Delhi, Chandra Pal was felicitated at almost all the big co-op bodies in the town. He was at IFFCO with its MD Dr U S Awasthi, at Nafed with Dr Bijender Singh. He was also felicitated at NCUI where sadly Dileep Sanghani was not available.

“Sanghanijee stood by me like a rock in Seoul and he has invited me to Gujarat for felicitation on India’s victory”, said Chandra Pal hinting that Sanghani has planned an event for him on 18th December in Gujarat.

Talking to Indian Cooperative, RBI Director and senior Sahakar Bharati leader Satish Marathe informed that Sahakar Bharati has also planned to felicitate Chandra Pal on his grand victory during its Lucknow national conference. “We have already written to him for the same; he has made the Indian co-op movement proud”, said Marathe.

Recounting his experiences in Seoul, Chandra Pal said that the Indian team worked hard to make me win. Among others, he named two persons-Savitri Singh and Tarun Bharagav for their exemplary efforts.

“Before the elections, we used to hold consultations with countries twice or thrice per day, and there I realized that both of them- Savitri and Tarun are quite popular among foreign delegates”, said Chandra Pal underlining their clout at the international fora.

“Earlier, we had requested China to sit down in India’s favor and they obliged. We even tried convincing the Japanese and in fact, it seemed Chitose Arai is open to the idea of vacating in my favour but on the last day she filed nominations”, Chandra Pal recounted the ups and downs of the tough fight.

“During the casting of votes for Directors, it became obvious that we are ahead of the Japanese but we did not expect the margin to be so huge”, said Yadav who polled 102 votes more than Chitose.

Sources added that the support of China proved crucial for India. Chinese not only gave their votes but also convinced their allies to side with India. Between India and Japan, China would always choose us, said an insider from India.

Earlier, several Delhi based cooperative institution including Delhi State Cooperative Bank, Delhi State Cooperative Marketing & Supply Federation, Delhi State Handloom & Handicraft Coop Fed. and others  felicitated Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav with a gold coin, shawl, bouquet and memento.