Pawar loses out as co-ops frown at privatisation

The Bharatiya Janata Party has made some attempts to claim this victory for itself, largely on account of Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde’s past flirtation with Chandrakant Taware who led the rival panel to victory. The fact remains, however, that the Pawar dynasty has brought this ignominy upon itself by trampling over the sentiments of senior Congressmen as well as farmers with scant respect for their concerns.

Taware, on the other hand, still swears by his past record of loyalty to Pawar. `I bear Sharad Pawar no personal animus. But his failure to pay attention to the co-operative sector had led to a feeling that farmers were not being accorded their due for their sweat and blood,” he has said.Taware’s panel was simply named : Farmers’ Panel. Therein lies a warning for the Maratha chieftain who has alarmed the mass of the electorate by rapidly handing over co-operatives to private entrepreneurs. The Baramati Grape Industries has been entrusted to the Vijay Mallya group while the Baramati Co-operative Milk Federation was converted to the `Dynamix Dairy’ and handed over to K MGoenka’s Conwood Group of Industries. Similar moves are reported to be underway with regard to other co-operatives including spinning mills. According to political observers, Pawar should have known better than to play around with an institution – that of farmers’ co-operatives – that has chiefly been responsible for the Congress’ sway over Maharashtra for 47 out of the 50 years since Independence. Notwithstanding other emotive issues of the day, farmers rarely vote against the Congress because this is seen as voting against their co-operatives, controlled by Congress barons, and, therefore, against their own interests.

“Congressmen were until now consoling themselves that even if they had lost power in the State in 1995, they still held sway over the co-operative sector. They had hoped that their control of the sugar co-operatives would soon deliver the state into their hands once again. But it should be now apparent to even Pawar that it is time for some rethinking,” said one observer.

In fact, conscious of the fact that their victory was largely owing to Congress-fatigue among voters, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in the State has been expending its energies in wresting the co-operative sector from the Congress. They have had limited success by luring the chairpersons of a handful of such co-operatives with promises of posts, including ministerial jobs. Pawar fought to retain control of the movement by denying, through a keenly contested election last year, the chairmanship of the apex co-operative bank, which funds these factories, to the Sena-BJP alliance. The state government retaliated by withholding funds to the apex bank. As farmers starved in this war between the two sides, there was a suggestion that funds be sought from other banks and the private sector and shares in the units be sold to the non-farming investors.

The results of Pawar’s romance with private entrepreneurship at the expense of the farmers’ peace of mind is now clear for all to see. The Malegaon Co-operative Sugar Factory has been controlled by members of the Pawar family for nearly three decades with none daring to raise a voice against the candidates blessed by their chieftain.

The defeat of Ajit’s panel is also seen as a refusal by senior Congress leaders in the state to accept his supremacy as Pawar’s undeclared heir and protege.

Ajit’s supposed arrogance towards one and all, including senior partymen, almost cost Pawar dear at the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. The former Chief Minister had to make concerted efforts in segments which had been wrested by Congress rebels or the Sena-BJP alliance at the previous elections in 1995. Subsequently, with trusted lieutenant Suresh Kalmadi in charge and Ajit marginalised for that purpose, the Congress managed to retain control of the Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune municipal corporations when other civic bodies fell like nine pins before the Sena’s onsluaght earlier this year.

“It must now be very apparent to even the fond uncle that his nephew has not quite succeeded in donning his mantle when it comes to dealing with even loyal voters in his own pocketborough,” said one observer. “In pursuing his national ambitions he seems to have entrusted his affairs in the state into wrong hands. He must now make amends. For Pawar must realise that if he loses Baramati, he might well lose Delhi. And Baramati’s farmers have shown that that is a distinct possibility,” he added.